New Standards
by Lord Kinesis
Summary: After constant and redundant pain and humiliation Todd plans on returning to his old school. No one wants him to leave but he's not convinced. It's all becoming too much for him. He's ready to take matters into his own hands. But how much impact is he truly capable of? He's not sure. Rated T for certain language and violence.
1. Constance

Constance

 **Author's Note: Attention students, faculty, and readers of all ages. There is a handful of Wayside Fanfics, and I've read them all. But that's not enough for me; I also need to write a story that may astonish anyone who loves the show. So without further ado, you may begin reading the story, which will take place in Todd's point of view unless stated otherwise.**

Monday

I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm getting sick and tired of my school and I feel like I need to flee. Every day the same thing happens to me, constant pain and humiliation day in and day out. Day in, Maurecia punches my shoulder painfully, and day out, Mrs. Jewls sends me home on the Kindergarten bus for reasons no sane person would concur to. I've been here most of my seventh grade year and now I'm two and a half months into my eighth. I'm really considering going back to my old school because I knew sane people there. The Kindergarteners might still be mad about that incident I had but other than that it might be my best option.

I arrive at my twisted up and turned over school. I admire the colors of the building but the intimidation of the open windows with the possibility of falling out doesn't redeem it. I'm always afraid Maurecia will punch me the wrong direction and I'll fall out the window. The more I think of it the more it haunts me. But I need to stay focused if I want to keep my head on straight, unlike everyone else. As I approach the door the school specialist opens it for me.

"Hey Todd what's up?" Louis greets me.

"Not much." I respond. "I'm just a little tired, that's all." Louis raised an eyebrow.

"Any reason in particular?" He asks. I sigh and give him the honest truth.

"I'm just not in the mood to walk up thirty flights of stairs then have to leave the class halfway through like usual." I told him.

"Maybe you should try not doing anything." He says.

"How will that help me?" I ask him.

"Shari sleeps in class all the time and does she get away with it?" Louis asks.

"Yeah I think she does."

"And does John get away with standing on his head where he can't even see the chalkboard?"

"He does."

"Well Todd maybe for one day you shouldn't participate." He says. "If you don't do anything then you can't get into trouble."

He's got a point, but it's not who I am. I'm a committed student who always engages in class and pays full attention. "I guess I could try that. But I'm afraid I might not be here much longer." I said.

"Why's that?" He asks.

"I'm getting tired of being the only person here who actually uses their brain 100% of the time." He looks at me confused. "Besides you." I say.

"Well I hope you're willing to change your mind Todd. It's nice having you here. But if you want to leave I can understand. Anyways have a good one." He says as I start walking up the stairs.

"You to Louis." I wave goodbye as I scale the first floor. He's a really nice guy and he's the only person I have full respect for at this school. I have a lot of kids in my class who lack common sense, a teacher who gives me unfair punishments, and a principle who I'm a little surprised attained the authority of this school. He's crazy and often irresponsible, and he doesn't seem to have respect for the students of Wayside. I think he only took this job because he likes having power over everyone else. Speaking of which when I reach the top I'm greeted by potentially the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Hi Todd." It was Myron. The kid I'm surprised made it to the eighth grade. Most schools would've kept him in elementary if they knew what he's incapable of.

"Hi Myron." I say sarcastically. "How are you?"

"Fantastic! I've got a plan to finally win the class election!" He says with excitement I can hardly take seriously.

I prepare to lower his expectations for him. "Myron maybe it's time you actually had a plan that'd lead you to success."

"What?" He gives me a concerned look. "You don't think I'd make a good class president?"

"I think the level of seriousness you take it too is complete idiocy. It's already November and it's not something that will continue in high school." I say.

"It will if I get re-elected." He said grinning. "And who cares if a third of our school year is over? I can still make some real changes in the next six months."

"What change? You're only president of Mrs. Jewls class and you're only supposed to turn on and off the lights."

"Lights? If I could only find which button does that maybe it'd be easy." He said.

"The switch is literally right next to the door." I say unamused. "Face facts Myron you're not smart enough to be a leader." He frowned.

"If I'm too stupid to be a leader then how come I got an A on last week's math test?" He said looking unusually serious. I rolled my eyes.

"Probably because you waited until Mrs. Jewls disciplined me then copied everything on Dana's paper."

"That's called 'using resources' and it's not wrong for her to help me when I need it."

I glared at him. "No that's called cheating and if you did that in college you'd get kicked out immediately." He looked a little concerned for a second.

"Who needs college? When I graduate from Wayside School I'm going to run for actual presidency!" I gave him a bland look. "You don't need college for that right?"

"Well if Mr. Kidswatter can be principle without any qualifications then who knows?" I tell him.

"Good. So you'll vote for me at the class election right?" He asked grinning.

I gave a dark grimace to him. "I wouldn't vote for you if you were the person holding the cure for cancer." Then I walked away. "Bye Myron." He looked upset but who cares what he thinks? He doesn't take anyone else seriously except for Mr. Kidswatter and Kidswatter doesn't even care enough to call him by his own name. I moved further down the hall to see another kid in my class, Dana. She's noticeably smarter than Myron but equally as crazy.

"Hey Todd!" She called out with that annoying grin she always has. I smiled back a little cause I know Dana is someone I can annoy and she won't do anything about it. She always gives me dumb rules to follow.

"Hi Dana." I say casually. "How was your weekend?"

"Fabulous! I did this week's assignments and now I need to wait for the deadline to turn them in." She said gleefully.

I smirked. "I've already done all assignments this year. Each of which is already graded and passed." Dana frowned and grabbed her rulebook.

"But Todd, the rules say-" I abruptly grabbed the book out of her hands and closed it.

"Hey! Todd that is not cool!" She pouted. I raised an eyebrow as I handed it back.

"Don't you remember? I did it to save Mrs. Jewls's ass from being relocated."

"Todd language!" She said sounding serious.

"Freedom of speech Dana. That's a rule that was written long before your rulebook. But you can't do a damn thing about it can you?" I said grinning.

"Todd what is your problem?" She asked. "I've never heard you swear before."

"I'm getting very tired of this school." I told her. "I'm in an area where common sense is critically lacking and I go through constant pain and humiliation. Maybe I should just go back to my old school."

"Todd you can't be serious! Wayside needs you!" I flinched. "Remember when you were our school mascot? Our tetherball team won because you held more school spirit than anyone else!"

"Well Dana if the school needs me then maybe I should get some sort of amnesty."

She raised an eyebrow slowly. "I'm listening."

"Maybe you should convince Mrs. Jewls to keep me at the school all day so we don't lose the school spirit at 12 huh?" She looked down at her book.

"But the rules don't allow-" I pulled the book down to make eye contact with her.

"Dana, sometimes you need to put the rulebook down and look at other possibilities." I said attempting to shock some sense into her.

"I don't want to break the rules." She said.

"You're not breaking them. But they shouldn't be the only thing you set your mind on. Now can you attempt to talk Mrs. Jewls out of sending me home on the Kindergarten bus?" I asked sounding praising.

"I'll try." She said nervously. "But isn't it wrong to question the teacher?"

"It doesn't matter. It seems anyone but me can get away with that sort of thing. But if you're successful I promise I won't leave Wayside for good." I could see determination growing in her eyes.

"You're right! I will question her disciplining methods and she won't get to say a damn thing about it!" She flinched. "Oh no! You got me into swearing."

I grinned. "Relax Dana. There isn't anyone other than me who heard it, and frankly it's a phase most people go through growing up. Something you could be proud of." Her frown turned into that large grin she normally has but this time it was more satisfying to look at than annoying.

"You're right Todd. You see what I mean! The school would be lost without you." She said happily. Then of course she said that other thing. "Enough with the fun!" She turned around. "See you in class Todd." Then she was out of sight and out of mind. As I got closer to my locker I heard footsteps… no, wheels.

"Not again." I thought to myself. The wheels came closer and closer.

"Hi Todd!" A familiar voice called out. It was Maurecia. The one person who causes me more stress than anyone else. Stress, and muscle soreness. I shiver just thinking about the pain she inflicts on my shoulders each day. Honestly Maurecia is pretty cute and always seems excited, but the fact that she hits me at full force everyday negates her attractiveness from my eyes. If she'd never hurt me or let alone tried to I don't think I'd have a problem being her boyfriend. But no matter how loud I say ow she is only motivated to keep doing it. I wonder if anyone has ever punched her.

"Hello Maurecia." I say in an unamused manner hoping she'll realize I'm not in the mood to get abused today. She winds up her fist and that raging glare appears on her face. Why am I not surprised? She swings her fist at me, only for me to step aside and her to punch the metal locker I'm standing in front of.

"Ow!" She cried as she aided her freshly damaged hand. "Todd you made me hurt my hand!" She said angrily. I rolled my eyes.

"No Maurecia, you damaged your own hand by trying to hit me. I used no net force and neither did the locker. Only you could control where your hand went." I said in a smart alack tone.

She frowned. "Thanks for that. Now don't move next time." She took another swing and I dodged it. This time she didn't hit the locker but she still looked ready for the pain if she did. She kept punching but I kept dodging.

"Todd I'm getting tired." She said. I thought this would be my opportunity to end this pain.

"Good. You shouldn't consume your energy on punching unless it's in self-defense." I said. She looked at me blankly.

"You know I only punch you because I like you right?" She said.

"I'm well aware. But what you don't seem to get is that lovers don't hurt each other, they embrace each other." She looked a little saddened.

"I do it differently." She said. "How come you can't accept that?" Where do I even need to start? Are her pain sensors disabled? Or does she think she's physically weaker than everybody else?

"What I can't accept is that you love me." I made finger quotations at the word love.

"I can't love you?" She asked looking sad.

"No, no. Not that. I can't take you loving me serious because you punch me every time I try to get comfortable around you." I said in a harsh but honest tone.

"Come on Todd it can't hurt that much. Remember when Jenny slammed the top of your head with a tire?" She asked.

"It's not about what pain hurts the most Maurecia. It's about the pain I receive most frequently."

"So you want me to stop?" She asked.

"I think that'd do us both a favor. It'd do the guy you like less pain and your chances of having a boyfriend more likely." I lectured her.

"Wait! If I don't punch you again you'll be my boyfriend?" She asked looking excited. Too bad I have to take that excitement away.

"No, not exactly."

"What!" She looked angry. "You don't like me?" I sighed and realized I was digging myself into a deeper hole.

"Not really." She was about to cry. "Look I tried really hard to like you Maurecia. I really did." Tears formed in her eyes. "But I'm not convinced you actually like me because you punch me every day. And no excuses! It's not attractive in the slightest." I said prepared to endure potential sadness. To my surprise her tears faded before they were shed.

"But you won't be my boyfriend?" She asked.

"Maurecia, you're really cute." She made eye contact with me, blushing slightly. "You have a lot of spirit and I generally find that really attractive." She looked like she was ready to faint at this point. "But I'm a sane person and I'd like you to accept that I've been hurt too many times and I'm respectfully not interested." She frowned subtly. "But if you don't punch anyone else maybe the next guy you find hot will be your boyfriend."

"So it's too late to win your heart?" She asked.

"I'm afraid so for now." She looked disappointed. "But I do think your pretty and know you're capable of a lot of things. Maybe sometime in high school you'll convince me to change my mind." She smiled.

"Thanks Todd." She said sincerely. Just as I turned around I heard her pull her arm back. I quickly turned around and caught her fist. I was not amused in the slightest.

"Okay we're off to a poor start." I let go of her hand. "Let's go with college. One can only hope we end up in the same place." I walked into the classroom even though today I showed up 30 minutes early. Class doesn't start until 9:00.

Maurecia's POV

Maybe I'm not trying hard enough. I do love Todd and I'm a little surprised he just said those things, and he's really fast. Perhaps he played Ninja a lot at his old school. It's only 8:30 though so I have some free time. I went back to my locker to get my backpack. I often leave it there before class starts so I can skate around the school but I can't leave it there or my best friend would get lonely.

"Come on out Fluffy." I call and my precious little porcupine crawls out of the bag and into my arms. He purrs as I gently stroke his back avoiding his quills. "Do you like it when I punch Todd?" I ask him.

"Hm." He shrugs casually. I always wonder what he thinks of Todd. I bet if the two sat down together they'd get along. I slowly pulled out a customized scrapbook with Todd and my initials on it in a large red heart.

"What do you think of these photos Fluffy?" I ask him. He just stares at them and growls somewhat audibly. While I tell Todd I like him a lot and show my affection via punching him, an enormous part of me loves this scrapbook but I can't gather the courage to show him. This book holds many memories of the two of us and has my heart written all over it. If only Todd's heart were in it as well. But I cannot show him this book. It'd be far too embarrassing and he'd probably think I'm obsessive, which is sadly not very inaccurate, but I still think if he saw he wouldn't be impressed.

"Fluffy which photo is your favorite?" I asked as he turned away with his arms crossed. "Come on Fluffy just pick one." He turned back to face the book. "Which one is the most inspiring?"

"Hm." Fluffy hummed quietly glancing around until one caught his eye. He pointed at a picture of me punching Todd, not in the shoulder but in his jaw. That was a punch I aimed poorly.

"Oh you like that one?" Fluffy nodded. "Maybe I should discard this one." Fluffy's eyes popped open.

"Mm-mm!" He hummed shaking his hand and head at the same time.

"But he actually looks hurt in this one don't you think?" I asked looking at him.

Fluffy grinned, crossed his arms, and then shook his head. "You think Todd likes it when I punch him?" Fluffy nodded. "You're right. I think he's just so used to it he's lying to himself. If he didn't like my fist on his shoulder he would've probably done something last year. Maybe he's just delusional right?" Fluffy's head was moving up and down faster than I'd ever seen. "Do you think I just need to hit him a little harder so he truly knows my feelings?" Fluffy gave me a thumbs up.

"Okay then it's settled! I'll get him when he least expects it! Love is blind after all." I then closed my book, put Fluffy back in the bag then enter the classroom. I cannot wait until noon!

Todd's POV

It was a long day. Or half of the day that is. I guarantee the day still feels longer for me than the other students even if they do go home later than me. Lunch was horrible since Ms. Mush doesn't know how to cook anything that isn't hazardous to your health. Though just when I thought I was scot-free for the day Mrs. Jewls called my name.

"Todd." I looked up. "Why haven't you been paying attention today?" I frowned.

"I've been paying attention all day. I always do." I said honestly.

"Not today Todd. You know how I know?" I didn't respond. "Because on the days you do pay attention you engage in class." I'm getting steamed.

"Well on the days I do engage you tell me not to talk and then right my name on the discipline list." I said.

"Well that's no excuse to not do it today." She grabs her chalk. "I have no choice but to put your name on the discipline list." She proceeds to right my name on the board. I turn to Dana.

"No! Not today Mrs. Jewls. Right Dana?" Dana doesn't move her head. "Dana are you okay?" I ask her. She turns around in tears.

"I'm sorry Todd I tried." She said sadly. I looked back to Mrs. Jewls who wrote a checkmark next to my name. I felt enraged.

"What's with the checkmark?" I asked.

"Dana questioned my disciplining methods. I had a serious lecture with her and she says you told her to."

I turn her direction. "Why Dana?"

"Sorry Todd. It was too much pressure to break another rule."

I looked back at Mrs. Jewls. "Okay. Well it's 11:45 and it takes me 12 minutes to get down stairs. Any more reasons to send me home early?" I ask.

"No I don't think so. Do I?" Mrs. Jewls looked confused. Then someone spoke up.

"I do Mrs. Jewls!" Maurecia raised her hand. I glared.

"You do not!" I said firmly. Maurecia turned my direction and winked. I didn't understand what that meant.

"This morning Todd forced me to punch a locker and badly hurt my hand." She said.

"Oh he did?" Mrs. Jewls asked. "Is that true Todd?" I was ready to explode.

"No! She tried to punch me and I dodged it! She punched the locker at full force and told me it was my fault. I didn't do a goddamn thing!" I shouted loudly and everyone was staring my direction. Most of the classmates looked kind of scared.

"Todd! That's an outburst that would probably get a student suspended." She circled my name. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." At this point she's lucky I'm not holding a weapon. I'm so infuriated I should be prematurely put in an asylum.

"Fine!" I grab my bag and stood up. "I've made my final decision. I'm going back to my old school. You people love having me around so you have someone to trash. But next week I'll be gone and you'll wish you hadn't driven me away."

"Just leave my room now Todd!" Mrs. Jewls pointed to the door. "We'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy riding the Kindergarten bus." I felt an undying flame burning inside my soul.

"I'm happy to go home on the Kindergarten bus. Because they're not normal people who have common sense or very developed brains, but unlike anyone else in this room, they still have a shot at a bright future!" Some students gasped. "I can't wait for the week to end." I headed towards the door but once I got close to the end something heavy hit the back of my arm. The force felt like a small battering ram.

"OW!" I fell face-first and crashed into the pole of the gumball machine next to the door. "AH!" I yelp while aiding my head, then I looked up to see Maurecia aiding her fist.

"Ouch. That punch actually hurt my hand." I glared at her.

"Mrs. Jewls did you see that?" I asked with a concerned frown.

"Saw what dear?" She asked.

"Maurecia just punched me on the shoulder and I ran into the gumball machine. Aren't you forgetting to do something?" I asked.

"Yes. You hit my gumball machine. If you want gum you should bring a quarter. I'd put your name on the list but it's already settled, goodbye." I glared and walked out of the room. I had a massive headache from both shouting and crashing, and I feel the bus ride will only make it worse.

 _This means war!_

 **Author's Note: And that's the end of the first chapter. Carry on students and readers. Goodnight.**


	2. The Last Move

The Last Move

 **Author's Note: Attention readers! If the first chapter was interesting enough for your standards, then please prepare yourselves for the next. My ideas for this story are constantly expanding the more I watch the show. And it's time to get another piece of it on the table. I hope you all enjoy and continue reading… though I think it's fair to say this chapter might be a little more unpredictable than most people are used to. Have fun!**

Tuesday

Maurecia's POV

I never truly realized how tough Todd is. When I punched him I didn't expect him to crash into the gumball machine. In fact I almost got up to see if he was okay. But he raised his head within two seconds so I knew he was fine. Now seeing how tough he truly is I feel even more attracted to him! But there's no real way to show him that. I could try punching him harder but it seems now I should be a little more careful of my surroundings before I hit him. I cannot wait to see him again today!

"Come here Fluffy." I call to my adorable porcupine. But to my surprise he doesn't come right away.

"Fluffy where are you?" I call again. This time he comes out really slowly. It's almost as if he's sick or hurt. I pick him up slowly and examine him all around.

"Fluffy. Is something wrong?" I ask him. He shakes his head and points downward. I notice he's pointing at my scrapbook with the photos of me and Todd, but he looks a little upset. If I haven't made it clear to him how close I hold Todd in my heart, then I don't know what to do. I've had Fluffy longer than I've known Todd and I see him more hours each day, so I don't know why he's in this mood. I've loved Fluffy since the day I got him and even put up with his prickly quills every time I pet him. Sure my love for Todd grew at a much faster rate than my love for Fluffy's but that doesn't mean I love Todd more. If anything I love both of them equally, though Todd is much easier to handle being around most of the time because he doesn't screech at anyone else near me. Now that I think about it, Fluffy often doesn't screech around anyone except for Todd.

"Is it my book?" I ask. "Does it take up too much space in my bag for you to fit comfortably in?" He nods gleefully.

"Then I'll tell you what." I say grabbing his mini pair of roller skates and helmet. "Today you can skate with me to the school. That way you won't get pushed around in my bag and have to worry about my materials hitting you. Sound fun?" I ask and he eagerly nods and jumps in excitement. He and I both have a taste for extreme sports. I help him put the skates on his feet as he puts on the helmet.

"But first! We need a little breakfast don't you think?" He shows an excited expression. "Okay then let's go!" The two of us took off into the kitchen, only for my dad to greet us.

"Good morning Maurecia. How are you this morning?" He asked me.

"Good morning to you to dad and I feel great!" I tell him. "Can you make me some toast really quickly? Fluffy and I want to be the first ones to get to the school!" Fluffy gives my dad a thumbs up in agreement.

"Are you sure you want to leave this early dear? It's only 6:45 right now." He asks me. I roll my eyes.

"Well daddy. I really need some time to think. That boy I told you about said he might be leaving." I say as my smile fades slightly.

"Oh really." He said sounding slightly disappointed. "Why is he leaving? Does a parent have a new job or is he getting a potential higher learning opportunity?"

"He wants to go back to his old school because Wayside supposedly stresses him out too much. He doesn't like Mrs. Jewls's discipline policies or he doesn't like the way the school is set up." I say. He gives a concerning frown.

"Is there anything you might've done to him that could've impacted his decision to leave?" He asked.

"Well I don't think so." I say. "Every day I find him and punch him on the shoulder. He says he thinks I'm really pretty but doesn't want me as a girlfriend." It sounds more disappointing to say it out loud. He sighs.

"Maurecia, is there any chance you punch him a little too hard or a little too often?" I instantly lock eyes with him.

"Maybe. But it's my way of showing him my love for him. I've done it ever since last year." He sits down and sets his coffee aside.

"Maurecia, I've got some advice for you." He tells me.

"Alright but can you make it quick? Fluffy and I want to scale the stairways!" I say with excitement.

"Well it's kind of serious so if I rush I at least want you to pay attention." He says. I've never taken him more seriously in my life.

"Okay then, take your time." I assure him.

"Before I give you the advice I need to know for sure. Does Todd really mean that much to you?" He asks. I want to tell him no because it seems a little embarrassing to talk about my crush, but I don't want to lie to him.

"Yes daddy. He means a whole lot to me!" I say with excitement. He turns aside for a second.

"Well actually… would you rather talk to your mother about this?" He asked me. She's often asleep until 8:00 on average. I didn't want to disturb her or wait that long.

"No dad I'm okay. Please continue."

"Well sweetie, I think I should start by asking why you like Todd so much. Can you tell me why?" He asks. I hope he's prepared for a monologue.

"He's extremely cute! He's very gentle and often eager to be around you. He's the smartest kid in our school and gets an A on every test Mrs. Jewls gives us, which is impressive because he gets sent home at noon almost every day. And he-" My dad cuts me off.

"Whoa, hold on a second. He gets in a lot of trouble?" He asks.

"Well he's still not used to Mrs. Jewls usual standards, like no asking or answering questions, forgetting something he never had a chance to receive, reading blueprints, and many more things. But even so he's so hot! I can't even describe to you how I feel when he's around me. And he's super tough! He's gone through many injuries and they never seem to bother him. He's never came in with a cast or anything. I admire every quality he has dad! And I always have!" He seemed kind of impressed.

"Wow Maurecia. I've never seen you seem so affectionate before. Do you really care about Todd that much?" He asks.

"Yes daddy! He's like my whole world in the largest building I've been in. I don't want him to leave and I'd do anything to keep him at the school!" He smiled.

"Darling, I can tell you like him a lot, and that's a good thing to love someone dearly, even cuter at your age."

"Uh huh." I respond.

"But Maurecia, I think he might be scared of you." My smile disappears.

"What? Why would you say that?" I ask.

"Maybe he doesn't like it when you punch him." Before I could open my mouth he continued. "Does anyone else at your school punch people they like?" He asks. I feel speechless.

"Well… no. But a lot of people probably don't have someone they're attracted to yet. It's my way of showing Todd how strong I am."

"But maybe he doesn't want that. It's not natural to hurt people you love. Your mother never punched me before we officially got together." He says.

"I know that. But it's the only thing I know how to do. If I stop punching him now I still don't think he'd stay at the school. It's probably too late." He nods.

"Well sweetie, it sounds like you got yourself into this." I had to respond.

"He can't leave daddy! I'll be too heartbroken if I come to school next week and he's not there!" I said worryingly.

"But maybe you can open your heart to him a safer way. Have you ever hugged him before?" He asked.

"No I haven't. I'm not used to hugging people." I said. "Won't that overwhelm him anyways?"

"Maybe but I bet if you gave him a hug instead of punching him he'd feel a little safer around you and who knows? Maybe he'll have some feelings for you he didn't know he had." He said and he sounded wise.

"I don't know. I've never made direct contact with him before. Except for punching or carrying him, and one time we held hands!" I said excitingly.

"Well darling I promise you Todd's probably made up his mind already. I'm saying this might be a way to change his mind. If you warm up to him in another way I'd be surprised if he was still so negative next week when he's gone." I wish I'd heard this a long time ago. I give him a determined grimace.

"You're right dad! You're absolutely right! I'll hug him the first time I see him today!" I'm feeling so excited about the possibilities.

"That's my girl." He says proudly. "Be careful on the stairs please." He says as I grab a piece of toast and slather peanut butter across it.

"I will!" I say as I hand the spoon to Fluffy and he licks it clean. The vet tells me to give him leaves and clovers but he loves peanut butter. It's his favorite food.

"I love you." He says as I head out the door.

"I love you to dad!" I shout back as I skate down the porch stairs with Fluffy following me. "Come Fluffy! Let's get to school!"

By the time we get to the thirtieth floor I unzip my backpack and open my locker. It's only 7:30 but I like getting there before anyone else. It's kind of a habit.

"Okay Fluffy get in." He looks reluctant to enter the bag. "Come on please? I just want to skate around the building for a while and I can't catch you every time you go down a flight. Your quills are too sharp."

He sighs. I can tell he seems a little disappointed. He looks like Todd when I tried getting him to hold my hand. For a long time I've wanted Todd and Fluffy to get to know each other. It'd be my dream for my best friend and potential boyfriend to be close to one another. But Fluffy's behavior gets so negative around Todd. I never do anything about it though because I don't want Fluffy to think I'm choosing Todd over him, but I also don't want Todd to be afraid of him either. It's tough to get people to like each other sometimes. But I'm not giving up hope yet.

"Please Fluffy. I promise I'll be back when I'm done. I won't forget to pick you up." He suddenly smiles in an adorable way then hops into the bag. "Thanks Fluffy!" I put my bag in the locker then close it. "I'll see you in an hour." I then take off and rev down the stairs at full force. I can't wait until Todd arrives! I'm finally ready to welcome him with open arms.

Todd's POV

Its 7:30 and I'm on my way to school. I'm still very pissed off at everyone involved in getting me in trouble and mostly angry at Maurecia! No matter how clear I try to make it she punches me over and over in the same spot! And yesterday she did it when I least expected it! What is her problem? Does she actually want to fight with me? I've never had a physical fight with anyone in my life because I didn't want to get hurt. But I always knew the key to winning wasn't about who was stronger or more durable, it's about whoever makes the last move. And I'm sick and tired of frequent pain in my shoulder. I will not let Maurecia make the last move. Every time I see her today I'm going to avoid her to the best of my ability. She can't hit me if she can't find me. It's usually 'you can run but you can't hide.' But I can't run from her. Those rollerblades give her supersonic speed. She is able to get down all the stairs within five minutes. So I feel hiding is my best bet.

I finally make it to the school and in a distance I see Maurecia skating around the schoolyard. I move swiftly and quietly to avoid catching her attention. And to my surprise she doesn't see me enter the building. As I start heading up the stairs I see Louis walk down.

"Hey Todd what's up?" He asks. I sigh.

"Nothing good Louis." I say honestly.

"Bummer. Why's that?" He asks me.

"I've decided I'm going back to my old school next week." He looked disappointed. "I'm just not very happy here. I had a few standards I thought people could follow but they failed pretty miserably."

"Have you ever had to retake a test?"

"Only when I had to leave the test early to catch the Kindergarten bus. Retaking it should've never happened considering I got an A on my first try. Reassessments are for those who fail the first time." Louis raises an eyebrow.

"Does anyone else ever need to reassess?" He asks.

"I've never seen them have to." Which is ridiculous since Joe doesn't know math, Sharie sleeps through the entire class period, John writes all his answers upside down, and Myron copies Dana's answers on probably every test he takes. "But I don't think Mrs. Jewls grades them anyways. She only grades mine." I may be making assumptions but as far as I know nobody in her class has an F.

"So you don't want to give anyone another chance at meeting the standard?"

"No because the standards were easy and understandable. I asked Dana for a little defense and she rats me out, I ask Mrs. Jewls to be fair about punishments and she disciplines me for not participating, and I ask Maurecia to stop punching me and she only does it harder." Louis pats my shoulder.

"Well Todd if you're going to leave then I understand. It's just not fun being the only normal person at Wayside. You're not weird at all." He says and I smile at that. He's a generous person at any time he can be.

"Thanks Louis. But I first need to finish this week. And I need a head start before Maurecia finds me. Bye." I say as I start running up the stairs. He only waves as I get out of his sight. I make my way to the fifteenth floor when I hear wheels behind me.

"Oh yeah!" I hear Maurecia shout as she revs into my view. I turn to the kitchen door and knock repeatedly. To my surprise the door slams open and I'm knocked against the wall. Mrs. Mush steps out but doesn't notice me.

"Who makes noise?" She calls out as Maurecia rolls to the top and I hold my breath. I don't want her to see me any time out of the classroom.

"Hi Mrs. Mush." I hear her say. "Have you seen Todd yet? I really need to see him."

"Todd? Hm… I think so!" She exclaims. "He came into the kitchen a little while ago." I feel fortunate that Mrs. Mush is somewhat insane.

"Is he still here?" She asks. "I've been waiting all morning to find him! I have something for him." She says excitedly. I frown. I know what she's trying to do. She always comes towards me in an innocent manner and then punches my shoulder. I seriously don't know why she thinks that's normal, but there's not much I can do about it. I have no control over her willpower. Mrs. Mush continues.

"Yes I believe he is. Come in." She enters the kitchen and the door closes.

"Well now's my chance." I say inaudibly. I continue sprinting up the stairs until I get to the thirtieth floor. I see I got there before most of my classmates. Stephen walks by me and unexpectedly stops.

"Hey Todd, it's nice to see you." He says. I found it odd because Stephen doesn't usually talk to me.

"Hi Stephen." I say in a confused tone. "It's nice to see you to?" I guess. He grins in a creepy way trying to match his jack-o-lantern. I really don't see him as anything more than a ginger Toon Link, but he's usually pretty kind.

"Well, have a nice day." He says walking away. I go to my locker and deposit some of my books. Then I hear another voice that came from below.

"Hi Todd." I turn to see a pair of legs. I look down to identify John standing on his arms. I guess that's how he gets around places.

"Hello John. What brings you here?" I ask him. He looks to the side looking kind of nervous.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something." He says. I guess I can trust him because despite being upside down he's probably the most normal person in the grade.

"Sure what is it?"

"What was with that outburst? I was actually kind of scared you'd lost your mind." He tells me. I guess it's understandable to think that.

"Well John I don't think I'm staying much longer. I thought considering Mrs. Jewls's pathetic policies and Maurecia hitting me, again, I'd be happier at my old school."

"Oh. Well good luck with that." He says as he continues crawling away. I suppose he's a little concerned. I don't know why people are saying hi to me though since I'm usually invisible to the class until I'm disciplined. Then suddenly I hear wheels… large wheels. I move to the side as Jenny revs at high speed past me.

"WHOO-WE!" She cries in excitement. I roll my eyes and continue packing my supplies. Then to be expected, she drives back. "Hey Brother Todd!" I turn around and respond.

"Hello Jenny?" I say semi-reluctantly. Jenny is practically a less abusive Maurecia. But I'm officially more afraid of her now because she once hit the top of my head with her front tire. She continues.

"I gotta say. I was truly surprised to see you get angry at Mrs. Jewls! It's about time you showed some real bravery around here. You're not just a wimpy little nerd anymore." I flinch at that last sentence and my unamused frown comes back.

"Jenny since when was I a wimpy little nerd?" I ask.

"Ever since you showed up at the school you've been taking punishments without doing anything about them. And you're always letting Sister Mau pound your shoulders! But yesterday you yelled at Mrs. J with what sounded like a pretty serious rant. If you keep that up she'll be too afraid of you to send you home on that baby bus. Don't you think?" I don't think that'd be the case but whatever.

"Maybe so?" I say slowly. "But I'm leaving this school after this week ends so that won't be necessary." I tell her. She looks a little sad.

"But Brother Todd, won't you miss us?" She asks.

"A little but I won't miss getting hurt and humiliated day by day." I answer.

"Well whatever happens Todd, Sister Mau is storming the school trying to find you. You should look for her." Why so I can get punched? Jenny and Maurecia are close friends and I'm almost 100% sure this is some sort of trap. I glare at her.

"No Jenny I won't." I pick up my bag and close my locker. "And I don't need you to assist Maurecia in abusing me."

"But Todd she-" I had to stop her right there.

"I don't want to hear it." I said while walking away. As I get further down the hall I see the same imbecile I see every day.

"Hey Todd!" He says. I'm really not in the mood to see him today.

"What do you want Myron?" I ask unamused. He drops a bunch of papers into my hands.

"Here are the homework assignments Mrs. Jewls gave the class after you went home on the Kindergarten bus." I look closely and notice his name is on each one.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I do your homework assignments for you." I shove them back into his arms. "Do your own homework you dumbass!" I yell at him. He makes an offended face.

"Excuse me Todd. That's no way to speak to your future class president!" He pouts. I roll my eyes.

"I thought I made it clear to you that no one wants you to be class president except for yourself. But maybe I didn't so take it from me now." Myron's face turns dark red.

"Okay Todd you're going down!" He attempts to slap me but I grabbed him by his arm and weighed down his shoulder. "Owie! Please stop that!" He whines desperately. I let go of him.

"Myron I'm leaving the school after this week is over so I suggest you don't get into any fights with me. Got it?" He nods with a scared expression. "Good. Now please don't bother me again." I said.

"Okay." He runs into the classroom sobbing pathetically. I don't usually get vigorous but Myron getting his ass kicked is long overdue. He needs to realize life isn't all about him. I then see Dana walk by. I'm not super excited to see her either.

"Todd I wanted to apologize for ratting you out." She says. I just shake my head.

"Sorry Dana but I'm not forgiving you." I say sternly. She suddenly looks sad.

"But why?" She asks me. "Isn't that what friends are for?"

"Yes but they have each other's backs and don't tattle unless it's critical." She pulls out her rulebook.

"But the rules say in a scenario where you're taking blame for a situation someone else got you in you need to tell the adult who's truly responsible." I face palm.

"But the adult is an idiot! And frankly I'm not sure we're actually friends." I say raising my voice a little.

"We're not friends?" She looks pretty sad. "How can you say that? After I welcomed you to Wayside, helped you become a better student, helped you prepare for winter, and became a member of your science club!" She suddenly became angry. I'm ready to give her some soul crushing memories.

"Yeah. You also forced me to be next to Maurecia and pull her ponytail."

"But that was so you two could be happy."

"And used me as your so called 'best friend' to make Myron jealous."

"I felt left out and didn't want you to feel that way."

"And spread gossip about me and Jenny to the entire school."

"Okay that was an accident!"

"And now you don't take a potentially small punishment just to give me some support." I say.

"Well excuse me Todd! You haven't done a lot for me either." Is she for real? I saved her life three days after I joined the school. Besides Myron helped me get Jenny off my back, drove the kindergarteners away, and stopped Le Chef from taking Wayside School for himself. I hate to admit it but Myron has accidentally done more for me than Dana ever had. Plus he turned off the trash compactor after it almost killed me… and Maurecia almost kissed me.

"Just remember Dana, if it weren't for me you, and the rest of Mrs. Jewls class would've died the day we discovered the trash compactor. And who would've killed you? Myron. Someone you assist in all sorts of things that make him think he's better than everyone else." She frowns. "It's not your job to stroke his ego."

"Fine Todd. I understand." She says defeated. "I agree completely. And I'm sorry. Just know that I will miss you when you don't enter the classroom next week. But know you're not only affecting me, but the rest of the class as well. We consider you part of us, kind of like a family." I'm hit pretty hard by that sentence but I manage to keep the tears back. I make eye contact with her completely.

"I'm not convinced." I say exceeding the pressure. A single tear falls out of her right eye.

"Well Todd. That's your choice. And I'm sorry I convinced the other students to try to treat you nicer this morning." My glare disappeared. "I hope you have fun at your old school." She turned around and walked into the classroom. I felt a little sad after she left. She actually tried to get the others on my side? That's why a few of them greeted me? It's going to be a little harder to say goodbye to this school now but then I remember it'll be harder for me to stay here then it will to leave. Suddenly a voice calls me from below.

"Hey Todd!" Goddammit! I think to myself as I hear Maurecia getting closer. I'm standing in the middle of the hallway in plain sight. There's no place to hide anymore so I can't do it… no! Not today. I'm very, very, very sick of her fisting me! Without turning around I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I feel this isn't going to end well but I'm way too pissed off to care. I'm done putting up with her.

*Today is my day! * I tell myself. Maurecia gets closer and closer and I feel time is slowing down around us. My eyes are still closed because I don't want to see this. With precise timing she approaches me, I turn around, and a punch is thrown… by me. I feel my solid locked fist slam against her forehead.

"OW!" I hear her scream as a small satisfied grin appears on my face. But only a few seconds later it goes away. "WHOA!" I hear her scream as the sound of frequent bumping echoes. I didn't expect to hear that last part and I open my eyes. Maurecia is no longer in my sight. And it wasn't until I hear a loud crash that I had any clue.

"Maurecia?" I call out quietly but I don't receive a response. I slowly walk forward until I see her at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh no!" I can't contain that phrase. She is lying unconscious on the floor and her helmet is all dented. I forgot she had roller blades until after it happened. The next thing I know, the entire class came out of the room. They all gasp when they see Maurecia lying there. Myron is the first to respond.

"Run everyone! Todd has gone mad!" Then they all panic and run back into the room. Mrs. Jewls came out looking very disappointed.

"Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed when she saw her student lying there. "Well Todd what do you have to say for yourself?" She asks. I couldn't say anything.

"I didn't mean to hurt her that much." I muttered. "Let me guess, the Kindergarten bus?" She shakes her head.

"No Todd. Go to the principal's office right now and think about what you've done!" Fair enough. It's going to be a long walk down but that'll give me more time.

 **Author's Note: …Okay that's the end of the second Chapter and I feel this one was way more eye opening than the first one. But it's still far from over. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and goodnight.**


	3. Consequences or Rewards?

Consequences or Rewards?

 **Author's Note: Attention students and readers! Attention. I want to go over a couple of things before we continue. I'm officially impressed by all of you. Taking time out of your lives to read my work? It is very satisfying to me! And gaining the slightest bit of attention day by day shows me one thing in particular, The Wayside Fandom isn't dead! A couple of months ago I saw an episode on my recommended YouTube list. Then I decided that since it was a very small part of my childhood when I saw two or three episodes, I should check it out. I regret nothing! But enough about my opinions. Let's get back to our friend Todd.**

Just before I begin walking down the thirty floors I just walked up, I see Mrs. Jewls walking away. I call to her.

"Where are you going?" She turns around.

"I have a class to teach Todd. Just because one of my students is hurt doesn't mean I can stop teaching." She says. I look back at Maurecia.

"Can you at least call an ambulance?" I ask.

"Of course I will but you need to get to the principal's office now Todd!" She says vigorously.

"Okay." She turns around and walks away. As I walk down the first half of the stair flight I stop to make sure Maurecia is okay. I place my fingers on her neck and fortunately, I feel her pulse. The crash didn't kill her. I was worried she'd either hit her skull too hard that her brain would get crushed or that her neck would've broken. I tilt her neck forward and feel something warm on my hand.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim. The back of her head was bleeding. Luckily it wasn't a large abrasion but still, feeling her blood on my hands made me feel like a murderer. I meant to hit Maurecia but I didn't mean to do this much damage. I assumed she'd either fall on her back or slow down on the knockback. I didn't think she'd roll all the way to the stairway. I sit there for a second, thinking about what I'd done. I feel ashamed. More so than the Kindergarteners at my old school. Because I might've lead to the toys getting shredded but no one actually got hurt. I feel I need to do something. It'll take the paramedics a long time to make it to the thirtieth floor and then walk back down.

 _Time to get a grip Todd!_ My subconscious tells me. I grab Maurecia gently by her legs and hoist her into my arms. She's actually pretty light but that's probably because she's always energetic and goes places at irreducible speed. I fold the right sleeve of my white undershirt over my hand and place it under her head. I don't want to hold my bare hands on her open wound or she could get infected.

"Let's go Maurecia." I say with determination as I slowly start walking down the stairs. As I walk I can't help but think of what I'm doing. Part of me feels like a hero but another part of me thinks heroes don't hurt people before they save them. And to think I could've just stood there and let her punch me another time, this wouldn't have happened. But taking the abuse wouldn't have been enjoyable for me either.

After about five floors down my arms start to get tired… well my left arm. She'd often hit me on the left side so it sort of hurt to carry her. I still have my right arm covering her head but chances are it'll get tired as well. Then I ask myself another question.

 _Would Maurecia do it for me?_ It's hard to say honestly. I know if she did she'd do it a lot quicker. I flinch and look at her skates. I'm very tempted to take them from her until I get to the first floor. But then I think that since I haven't ridden any non-vehicles in over a year I'd only screw it up.

"Oh! Stop complaining Todd!" I exclaim out loud. Then with newfound strength, I ignore my pain and keep walking. I manage to make it down another 15 floors before my shoulders were ready to give out. Both of my arms are tired and frankly so is my back. If you're a fourteen year old boy who doesn't lift weights or do sports, you're not physically ready for things like this. I decide to take my chances. I set Maurecia down gently and remove her rollerblades. It's time to escape my comfort zone for just a few minutes. Luckily they fit me pretty well.

"Alright let's do this!" I chant as pick her back up and skate down the tenth floor and onto the ninth. I'm lucky enough to not crash into any walls and pray my luck will hold on. As I make my way lower and lower into the school, passing the eighth, seventh, and sixth floors I realize I'm moving a lot quicker than before and I'm a little better at rollerblading than I thought I was until suddenly, when I got to the stairway between the fourth and third floors I feel my leg misstep.

"Whoa!" I start moving uncontrollably down the stairs. My last thought before I hit the wall is to keep Maurecia safe. I hug her tightly and face forward preparing to take impact.

"Ow!" I yelp once I hit, with my knees then my face flew forward. I'd stuck my knees out just a little further and I'm grateful they slowed my facial crash for me. My face has endured pain like that all the time so there wasn't going to be any long term damage in that regard. But I'm still conscious.

"Oh." I say weakly as I get back on my feet. Both of my knees are now bleeding and I'm just flat out exhausted. But I'm not to my destination yet. I get up and take the skates off as I now see how dangerous they can be. Also note to self: Next time make sure you have knee pads with you before you skate. I touch Maurecia's neck again to ensure she's still okay and luckily she didn't take any damage from that crash I just had. I put them back on her feet and remember I left my shoes on the tenth floor. But there's no point in going back now. When I finally make it to the bottom floor I hear the ambulance siren and I see Louis talking to the paramedics.

"Where is the injured child?" One of them asks.

"I have no idea." Louis says. "I didn't know there was an injury here." I walk up to them quietly.

"Here she is." I say. Holding her out. A few of them gasp.

"Whoa Toddster what happened to Maurecia?" Louis asks. This isn't going to be fun.

"I punched her in the forehead then she had a skating accident. She fell down the stairs backwards on the skates until her head hit the wall." I say in an ashamed tone. Louis looked surprised.

"You punched her?" He asked. "Like… intentionally?"

"Yes. But I didn't know she'd fall down the stairs." I hand her to one of the men.

"Thanks son. We'll take it from here." He assures. I speak up in concern.

"Please take good care of her. She's someone I'm probably never going to see again." I say sadly. I see Louis almost tears up after hearing me say that. A female medic comes towards me with a roll of bandages.

"Would you like some bandages for your knees?" She asks me.

"Yes please." I say as she helps me apply them to my knees. It stings a little but not as much as my arms still do from carrying Maurecia down twenty nine stairways. I then watch them get back into the ambulance but I can't watch them drive away. I have an office to get to.

I get to the principal's office but Kidswatter isn't there. I know it's only 9:15 but I still expected him to be there. I sit there for a while. I sit for a solid seventy five minutes in silence feeling too sad to play my Game Boy and too bored to write or draw something. He finally enters the room and greets me.

"Ah! Welcome Three Forty Four! What brings you here this fine morning?" He asks. I really wish he'd at least make an effort to remember my name but at least he doesn't change the name every time he sees me like he does with Myron.

"I got in trouble. But where have you been?" I asked in annoyance.

"Figure skating." He says. It figures. That's all he's ever doing if he's not on the PA or getting students to do a ridiculous activity. "But seriously what are you doing here?"

"I told you I'm in trouble. I punched a girl and she ended up hitting a wall head first." He gasps.

"You injured someone?"

"Accidently. But it was supposed to be a single punch instead of a critical blow."

"Listen Three Forty Four. If you punch-" I had to interrupt.

"Please call me Todd!" I couldn't help but blurt. He stammered for a second.

"Okay 'Todd'. Punching someone is simply not nice." Well I wish he was present every time I was alone with Maurecia. "It's violent, cruel, and just flat out frowned upon." He told me.

"Yeah I get it." I say not looking in his direction. "But why are you concerned over such little things like hitting another person and not to things like teachers abusing their power?" I ask thinking about Mrs. Jewls.

"Well Three Forty Four- I mean Todd, back when I was in school I got punched all the time." I never knew that.

"You did?" He nodded.

"But I learned to get used to it. Then I learned how to dodge punches, with style!" He grinned.

"What do you mean with style?"

"I learned how to dance like a true professional. After that was over I moved on to figure skating to continue getting better at that sort of thing. Then I became principal so I'd have superior power to all people in the school like I always used to dream of." This was all really new to me. I didn't ever learn his motives for becoming principal until now.

"Well good for you. But Mrs. Jewls sent me down here to get punished. Are you going to issue a detention for me or something?" He shakes his head.

"No Todd I can't do that." He says with his usually egotistical grin. "Do you really think I have time for students after school is over? I have a life and so do you. So today only, since you're the smallest threat to my school and for that reason only, I'm letting you off with a warning." I smile.

"Thanks Mr. Kidswatter. It really means a lot to me. But I still think I ought to have some other punishment for knocking Maurecia out." He flinched.

"Did you say Maurecia? Like the girl on roller skates 24/7?"

"Well yeah." He grinned.

"Well Todd, it's about time someone gave her a taste of her own medicine! She took me out in a dodgeball game, she crashed into me between stairs before I banned round items, and when she wanted to do a stunt she trespassed in my private skating rink!" He said unconcerned about her injuries. "Todd. Today you have diplomatic immunity!" He grabs me and shakes my hand. "Congratulations." I wonder what he means by that. But if it means Mrs. Jewls can't boss me around then I'll take it.

"Well… thanks? But can I have a pass for it or something?" I ask.

"Sure thing!" He writes a paper up. "Just sign here please." I sign the location. "Perfect! Now please enjoy the rest of your day." He says pointing towards the door.

"But Mrs. Jewls said I should stay here for the day." He raises an eyebrow.

"Is Mrs. Jewls in charge of the school?" I'm speechless. "No she isn't. So you can tell her I said you're her problem and not mine." He says as I walk out. I'm honestly starting to feel good about myself until Louis walks out of the other room looking kind of sad.

"Hey Louis what's up?" I ask.

"Not real good things." He says. I'm immediately concerned.

"What happened?"

"Todd, this might hurt you more than it hurts me." He says. "I just got a call from the hospital and Maurecia isn't doing too well." It feels like a spike jabs into my heart.

"She is alive though right?" I ask nervously. He nods.

"She's alive but she lost quite a bit of blood from that incident. She's in a coma." I shiver a little. "And most victims of an injury like this are out cold for weeks."

"Weeks?" I ask. "I don't have weeks left Louis, I have a few days!" He shrugs.

"And some people… end up dying from this."

"WHAT?" I nearly shouted there could be an avalanche in mountain territories. "How is that possible?" He sighs.

"Some people end up braindead. They are too damaged to even open their eyes again." A tear falls down my face.

"So I might've killed someone?" I say with my voice breaking.

"Well… maybe you had some responsibility?" He said. I couldn't contain my tears anymore.

"I'm a terrible person!" I cry. Louis quickly pats me on the shoulder.

"No you're not Todd."

"Yes I am!" I whine.

"No you're not Todd." He squeezes my shoulder lightly. "A terrible person wouldn't carry the person they hurt down thirty floors would they?" He asks. I slow down my tears.

"Well… probably not." I respond.

"Would a terrible person risk injuring their knees to do that?" He's right.

"No."

"And would a terrible person use the phrase; "Please take good care of her" to the paramedics?" He asked me.

"Oh you heard me say that part huh?" He shakes his head gleefully.

"No they wouldn't!" He says fiercely in excitement. "You're a good person Todd. You're a good hearted, heroic, person. And to think if the medics would've had to walk up thirty floors then she'd likely not have made it. But you saved her Todd." I started to feel a little better. "Maurecia would've been a goner if it took them forty minutes to an hour to get her to the hospital and you reduced it by about 60%."

"I did?" I said smiling lightly.

"Yeah and I like to look at it as Maurecia is 60% more likely to pull through because of it!"

"Really?" I've never heard Louis be so supportive.

"Yeah! And I promise Maurecia will be notified when she gets back." He says. "They said they don't think it'll be too critical anyways. It was only a minor collision."

"Thanks Louis. Please tell me more if they tell you anything." I say as I walk up the stairs.

"Will do Todd. Will do." I hear him say behind me.

I picked up my shoes on the way through floor ten and put them back on. When I'm on the fifteenth floor I notice its 11:00 which is lunch time. And this time I'm here freshly as opposed to having to scale half of the building to get here. I make my way to the cafeteria and pull out my lunch box. I just recently decided bringing lunch each day is safer than eating Ms. Mush's food. About ten minutes into lunch I'm sitting alone and just a few meters away is a large table full of my classmates. Most of them are staring at me to the point they aren't even moving their heads. I want to ask them what they're looking at but I think that'd be rude. What I don't hear is them saying a couple of things.

"Todd looks awfully lonely over there." Says Dana. "Do you think we should join him?" The three Erics shrug in unison. John shrugs his legs. Stephen turns to his pumpkin. Joe scratches his afro. Jenny rings her bike bell softly. Then to my surprise Sharie opens her eyes.

"Poor Todd." She says softly before falling asleep again. I look down at my food, trying to avoid making eye contact with them. I know most of them are probably scared of me even though I'm sure at least one of them, like Jenny, is stronger than me. I mean I wanted more respect from my classmates but I didn't exactly want it to be from them fearing me. I didn't know beating up the toughest girl in school would instantly intimidate everyone else. I want to tell them it was an accident but I don't think they'll believe me.

"I don't know." Myron says. "He scares me. It's like a piece of him just snapped and now he's dangerous." I hummed to myself to try to block out their conversation. Just as I finish my sandwich I open a small pack of peanut butter crackers. Peanut butter is really good and sometimes when I eat it I feel the numbing of my emotions. Delicious! Suddenly I'm greeted by Dana who looks eager for reasons that escape me.

"Hey Todd." She says.

"Hey Dana." I respond in a sad tone, not bothering to lift my head.

"May I sit next to you?" She asks and then my head pops up.

"What?" I ask.

"Does that mean no?" She raises an eyebrow.

"No, no. That's fine." I say as she takes the seat beside me. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather eat with your best friend Myron?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"No Todd. I wouldn't for a couple of reasons." She states. "For starters he's been acting like a coward all day saying you're gonna come for him next." Myron would probably be my next target if I was violent but I'm not violent so it's not likely. "And more importantly I'm his best friend, but I never knew for sure who yours was." I flinched after hearing that. To be honest I don't really have one.

"Thanks." I mumble quietly. "But I think you'd be happier around them than with me." She puts her hands on her hips.

"Todd. I'm going to ask you this. Would you be happier if I were with them?"

"I don't know. My emotions aren't being clear with me today. I can't tell if I'm happy to not have gotten abused, sad to think I maimed someone, angry to know that I'm probably everyone's least favorite person here… though that part was self-explanatory since the day I arrived. Or if I'm confused because I don't know who are my friends and who are my foes."

"Todd. I want to be your friend." She says. Though I can't make an enthusiastic response.

"Okay thanks." I mumble.

"Alright good." She says cheerfully. "What do we do now friend?" She asks, though my mood isn't lightening at all. I gain my words.

"Okay Dana. Don't take this personally. I appreciate that you feel sorry for me, but I really don't think you are going to play a factor in whether or not I stay here." She frowns.

"Why not Todd?"

"Well because you're only one person. And I've got bigger problems with Maurecia and Mrs. Jewls than I do with you." She sighs.

"Well Todd I just wanted to say thank you for saving us from the trash compactor." She says sincerely. I make eye contact with her and smile lightly.

"You're welcome."

"And even though the other students are scared right now, they too are grateful for being saved." She says. I question that a little.

"No one ever told me thank you after it happened. And Myron never will since he wasn't there." She gets into her analytical tone.

"What about the time the glow guppies attacked the class? You were there to save us then to, including Myron." I shrug.

"Maurecia pulled the lever that drained the classroom. I just happened to be in the raft." I said. Only to get an unexpected response.

"But she wouldn't have been in the raft if it weren't for you now would she?" She asks. I counter with a depressing argument.

"She also wouldn't be in the hospital right now if it weren't for me." I say unwrapping my cheese stick. Dana frowns.

"Are you still beating yourself up over that?"

"Well it's not easy being in a school after you lead to someone getting badly injured." She rolls her eyes.

"Todd you were just angry and honestly a lot of us thought you didn't have a breaking point. After all those times she hit you she had a little karma coming to her. Some of the students may think you're a monster but I'm pretty impressed. And you've said you were sorry ever since it happened so I know you're not a monster." I've never really expected this coming from Dana. I mean I guess it's not as unlikely as hearing it from Myron or another student but I'm still pretty surprised.

"Thanks for making me feel better but I still think I'm going to have a boring or obnoxious bus ride in about 35 minutes." To my luck she withdraws her rulebook.

"Actually Todd. Read the Teacher's and Guardian's Guidelines!" She nearly shoved the book in my face. I read it silently.

"What part in particular?" I ask.

"Principal's Rule." She says while pointing to it. I read it for a second and a mischievous grin reflexively appears on my face.

"Oh-ho-ho-whoa!" I say in a half chuckling tone. "This, Dana is more than I needed from you. Do you have any idea how much power you've just handed me?" She grins and nods.

"I thought it'd be easier to let you read it for yourself." She then laughs evilly for a few seconds. "I can't wait until class time!" She exclaims. I look back in the book for a minute with a dark grimace.

"Neither can I Dana, neither can I."

About twenty minutes later we're back in the classroom and everyone's about to take a test. Just as we get into it I stare at my watch. I get through about two learning targets then I see Mrs. Jewls come to my desk. I glance at my watch and it reads 11:40.

"Todd you know what it's time for?" She asks me. I shrug. "The Kindergarten Bus." She says in that careless tone.

"But it isn't 11:45 yet." I say. She nods.

"That's true. I just wanted to be generous and give you an extra five minutes due to your scraped knees."

"It doesn't hurt Mrs. Jewls. Just stop bothering me and let me finish my test!" I spoke up a little and nearby classmates looked at us. Mrs. Jewls looked embarrassed.

"There's nothing to see students. Go back to your tests please." She says.

"And you go back to your seat Mrs. Jewls." This time the entire class faced us a few of them had their jaws open. I felt like a lawyer. Mrs. Jewls glared at me.

"Todd that is no way to speak to your teacher."

"And micromanaging isn't legal to anyone who doesn't have a 504 plan prematurely written with parental permission. You're a licensed teacher so you should know that." Everyone gasped and I even saw Sharie staring our direction with eyes wide open.

"That's it Todd! I've had it with your behavior!" She dashes to the chalkboard and writes my name, checkmark, then circles it. "If only this chalk were permanent!" She says in frustration. I grin.

"If it were maybe Kidswatter would remember me by my name." A couple students chuckled. I quickly finished my test then turned it in. "Here you go Mrs. Jewls." She frowns in an unamused manner.

"Thank you Todd now its 11:45 so get out of my classroom!" I hear students behind me drop their pencils. I turn around and they all look kind of nervous. It's like they want me to win this argument.

"Oh okay. I guess I get to go to recess early huh?" I hear chuckling. "Thanks Mrs. Jewls." I say stepping towards the door.

"Uh, uh, uh Todd. Your destination is the Kindergarten Bus. Go down there this instant." She said sternly. I heard Jenny call me.

"Don't do it Brother Todd!" I turn around slowly and withdraw the rulebook, opening it to early dismissal policies.

"It says here that if a teacher wants to send a student home early she needs to have very valid reasons for it. Because if that student is gone then he or she isn't able to continue learning for the rest of the day which could further affect their education." There was utter silence in the classroom. She glared into my eyes and I could tell she was angry. But who is she to say she's angry? She doesn't know the half of pain or humiliation I experience daily and she's often half of the cause.

"Well Todd talking back to the teacher isn't acceptable."

"That's true." I hear Eric Ovans mumble.

"Disciplining a student for doing their job taking a test isn't either."

"Seconded!" Myron exclaims. Mrs. Jewls raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Telling me to sit down isn't something a student is allowed to do."

"Actually Mrs. Jewls, asking for privacy is every student's right. If a teacher isn't willing to back off it's their right to protest for it. That's why I raised my voice and told you to back off."

"That he did!" Dana cheers.

"Well Todd you are never allowed to yell at your teacher." She said getting more frustrated but keeping her cool.

"And you as a teacher are never allowed to interrupt a student during a test. The only exceptions are if they're cheating or the period ends." She pauses for a second.

"But Todd I-"

"No buts Mrs. Jewls. You have no basis for those. I've just debunked my name, checkmark, and circle's discipline reasons so do your job as a teacher and take my name off the board." I hear my classmates laughing as I fold my arms. Mrs. Jewls stood up looking steamed.

"Todd you get your butt downstairs right now!" She yelled and all my classmates fell silent. I looked into her eyes.

"Why? You never answered my question. Why'd you interrupt my test?" I asked.

"So I could tell you to get out of my classroom and get to the Kindergarten Bus!" She yelled loudly. I only grinned.

"If you were sending me home on the Kindergarten Bus anyways, your reasons I just debunked were irrelevant. Ergo I shouldn't have needed to debunk them."

"Todd is back baby!" Eric Bacon exclaims.

"Go to the bus now Todd! I wouldn't want you to miss it!" She says in absolute frustration. I take a step back.

"This sudden anger is very unprofessional Mrs. Jewls. This will cost points on the next Teacher's Parent Conference." She looked ready to hurt me. "But before I go to the bus I need a reason for it. You can't use those other reasons as part of your argument at this point so you'll need to dig deeper."

"Well let's see Todd. Oh yeah, you injured another classmate this morning! You caused Maurecia to miss out on class the entire day!" She yells really loudly. I grinned darkly.

"You're right I did. And didn't you say this was "Principal's Office" material?" I asked and she started to diffuse.

"Well… yes." She stammered.

"Are you the principal?" I asked.

"No but I'm still your teacher and I have authority over you." She says annoyed. I feel like I'm about to scar her permanently. I reach for the book and flip to Principal's Rule.

"It says here that if a teacher plays the principal card on a student, they're handing full authority to said principal." I close the book and grin menacingly to her face. "Therefore you have no authority over me in this situation and cannot give me any consequences." She gasps as the students all make an astonished face in unison. A few of them make remarks like 'ouch' and 'got her!'

"Way to go Todd!" Dana shouts.

"QUIET!" Mrs. Jewls screams and the class pauses. "You have no proof of this Todd. Therefore you cannot make this case. For all anyone knows you could've easily ditched the principal's office and pretended to be there all morning."

"Well." I slowly retract my pass from my pocket. "Unless this diplomatic immunity slip, with both mine and Kidswatter's signatures on it doesn't count as proof." The entire class gasps. "Then I think you'll need to put up with me for three more hours." She grabs it from my hands.

"It's… real." She says defeated. The entire class stares at her. "Okay you can stay for the rest of the day." She says quietly as she steps out of the room. The next thing I know Myron gets out of his chair and holds out his hand.

"High five Todd!" He said with excitement. I slapped hands with him. Then I hear multiple classmates calling at once.

"That was amazing Todd!" Stephen shouts.

"Great job!" John exclaims.

"You rock Brother!" Jenny says. I also see Bebe sketch a thumbs up.

"I'm proud of you friend." Dana gives me a thumbs up and winks. I signal her back. It's going to be an easier last week than I thought.

By the time I get home three hours later I read my standard chart. If all of these are completed by the end of the week I won't leave Wayside.

"1. Get Maurecia to stop punching me:

2\. Stop getting sent home early:

3\. Gain respect from classmates: √

4\. Find something I can say I care about that can ease the pain."

I think I can check that third one off. I know the other three will be more difficult to complete but I've still got time. And if Mrs. Jewls is accepting then maybe I can check off another one.

 **Author's Note: Well that may be the most satisfying chapter yet, to me at least to write. But I'll be darned if I can't make the next one any better. Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed, and Goodnight.**


	4. Friend or Foe?

Friend or Foe?

 **Author's Note: Attention readers. To all of you who've read all three chapters up until this point, I should tell you all I've been looking forward to this chapter. Something long overdue is taking place that I'm assuming some fans probably have wanted. And believe me, I wish that part, if not all of what happens in this chapter became cannon. Take it from here Todd!**

Wednesday

Though I had a satisfying day yesterday, I had kind of a rough sleep. I had a dream involving Maurecia but when I punched her the wall collapsed behind her. Was that dream trying to tell me something? I'm scared that either within the next few days the building will collapse on all the students, or… Maurecia won't make it. The former isn't likely but the latter is possible. Its 6:15 and I'm wide awake. I might as well get ready for my third day of the week.

Within the next fifteen minutes I pack a lunch, containing a sandwich with turkey, pepper jack cheese, mustard, miracle whip, and wasabi sauce. Most people prefer horseradish but I've always loved wasabi. I also grab a cheese stick, an applesauce, and a pack of peanut butter crackers, my favorite snack. Then I realize it's only 6:30. But for some reason I feel I should get to the school right now. It's time to step out of my comfort zone.

I went back into my room and opened my closet to spot a nice, flat yet fast rolling skateboard. I used to ride it to my old school every day but after the toy incident I felt it wasn't safe to leave lying around. But maybe… I could get back into the habit of using it? I know I just took an injury to my knees yesterday but even so I want to get used to being braver than I am now. I put on my unsaturated sky blue helmet on my head then get on the skateboard to test it. I roll out my bedroom and stop before I hit the wall.

"Slow and steady never fails." I say. I pick the board up and head downstairs where I'm greeted by my mom.

"Good morning sweetie." She says.

"Good morning mom." I respond before facing the door. "I was just on my way to the school." She almost drops what she's doing.

"You're not hungry?" I guess guilt has weakened my appetite.

"Well mom I'm not really feeling it today."

"What's with the skateboard?" She asks. I realize I have some explaining to do.

"Well mom yesterday some things happened."

"What sort of things?" She asked raising an eyebrow. I feel I might as well just be honest about this.

"Remember when I told you I wanted to change schools?"

"Have you made your final decision?" She asked.

"No let's not make any assumptions." I say. "Yesterday there was an unfortunate accident involving me and a girl." She smiled.

"Did you finally get a girlfriend?"

"I said don't make assumptions!" I said with a little frustration. "I punched her." Her face lit up with sadness.

"Why son?" She asked. "Why would you punch anyone at all?"

"Because she's been punching me for the last year. Now she's in the hospital and I don't what to do." She looks worried.

"Have you said any prayers?"

"Not yet. I don't usually do that. But I want to go to the school early to see if I can find things I love about it." She pointed at my legs.

"Are you sure your knees are okay? Maybe I should drive you there." I wave my palm.

"That won't be necessary mom. I'm a quick healer and I need to get to school now. A part of me says I gotta jet." I set the skateboard on the floor.

"It's really early Todd. Are you sure you want to leave now?" I mean I live about five miles from the school. I know Maurecia skates to school every day so what have I got to lose? Besides, if I use the skateboard as my source of transportation I wouldn't need to ride home on the kindergarten bus.

"Yeah mom. I want to familiarize myself with the positives of Wayside School." I pick up and put on my backpack. "I want to know for sure if I still like the school itself and not just the people I see there."

"Okay sweetie. Have a nice day." Just when I was about to drive off she said one more thing. "And please don't hurt anyone again." I sighed but continued.

"Alright mom. Bye!" I skated out the door and did a quick rotator over the porch stairs.

"Yeah!" I say in excitement. I don't know why I gave this thing up. I might not be as daring as Maurecia or Jenny but I'd be a fool if I said it wasn't fun.

By the time I finally made it to the school I picked the board up. I think I'll need to practice more before I start skating the stairways. As I walk in the school I spot Louis who looks a little tired for some reason.

"What's up Louis?" I give him my usual greeting. He yawns.

"Not much Toddster. Nice helmet." He says.

"Thank you. I wanted to try skating to school today and it was pretty fun." The helmet is actually Myron's but after that stunt I did he never asked for it back.

"Cool dude. Your knees didn't bother you?" I shake my head.

"Not really. It's a very minor abrasion." I tell him. "What's on your mind?" He sighed.

"Todd. Have you been thinking of Maurecia?" He asked me. Truth be told I had but I wasn't too worried about it.

"A little." He sighs again. "What?"

"Well Todd. After you left the school I got a call from the hospital." This can only end badly I think. "She got hit in a joint in the back of the skull that temporarily paralyzes the entire nervous system if fractured."

"Oh my god." I say. "What's her condition called?"

"Intracranial hemorrhage." He states. "It's when a portion of the skull is fractured and there is internal bleeding. In her case a nerve connecting to her brain was damaged and if the blood flow to the brain is disrupted for even a split second, the person blacks out instantly." My eyes widen.

"How long does it take to resume its usual blood flow?" I ask.

"Often no less than a couple of days or sometimes weeks. But don't worry Todd. They said the nerve wasn't permanently damaged and blood is still making its way through her brain. It's just that a portion of it was lost so it's taking time to resume." I guess that's logical. But how much did she lose? When will she wake up? All of this is actually starting to scare me.

"Did they predict when she'll wake up from the coma?" I ask worryingly.

"Unfortunately the doctors can't tell for sure. They said she'll likely be asleep for about a week." I don't have that much time.

"Is there any chance she'll wake up today?" I ask.

"Extremely unlikely Todd." He says. I frown in sadness. "But she's still alive and breathing as we speak so she's closer to waking up today than she is to death." That's something to be grateful for.

"Is there anything I can do?" I ask and I feel pretty dumb after I say it. I'm not a doctor and I can't just shock someone out of a coma.

"Well Todd. You can hope for the best." He says. I look down in sadness.

"Okay thanks for telling me." He pats my shoulder.

"And hey. I still hope for you to make your best decision. See you Todd." He says as he walks into the office. I shrug and begin walking up the stairs. It's a really long walk and I walk by the bathroom I covered up, the short room I lowered, the area that cow would eat the walls. All of these small changes I made that made a big impact. I guess there are a couple of things to feel good about. Until I get to the stairs between twenty nine and thirty. I see the spot on the wall where Maurecia crashed and that guilt comes back.

"That actually probably hurt a lot." I sigh. But it all happened so quickly I wonder if she even felt it. A couple of tiny red spots are on the floor which I can tell is Maurecia's blood. I almost want to cry.

*Oh get a grip Todd!* I hear my subconscious say. Imagine a devil with my face appearing on my shoulder. *You don't like her! You never liked her! Within the first minute you joined this school she punched you! And she's punched you every day since! You don't like her and she doesn't like you! She never once cared about how you felt after getting hit and she never took your feelings into consideration!*

After I think about that I don't care. If she did care she would've tried to be a better friend to me while I was here. I tried very hard to be her friend and she treated me like a punching bag. Suddenly I hear her voice.

" _I love you Todd!"_ But it's only an echo of the past. The first Thursday I was at this school she said that… But she doesn't have any proof of her 'love' now does she? I tell myself I'm done thinking about her. Then as I walk by our lockers I hear what sounds like a faint crying noise. I flinch and listen very carefully to try to find where the sound is coming from. I follow the whine until I find myself at Maurecia's locker, feeling a little confused.

"Huh?" I open the locker out of curiosity and see a familiar looking green ball, the little seaweed colored thing turns towards me.

"Oh hi Fluffy." I say casually and suddenly the little pest attacks me. He leaps out of the locker and claws his grip onto my shirt. "Hey pal calm down." I say scared.

"AYEII!" He screeches in my face then scratches my chest.

"Ow!" I frown. "Stop that!" I demand but of course he doesn't listen. He pulls my collar down and scratches me just below my neck. "Ow! Okay that's it!" I know this will hurt me to. I slap him off my shirt while poking my fingers a couple times on his quills. "Ow." I say and then shake the pain off. Fluffy gets into an attack stance. I glare into his eyes. He returns an equally intense glare at me. I imagine fire burning around us.

"Bring it!" I shout at him. He screeches again and then leaps at me again holding a quill. I attempt to hit him but my hand misses him and he stabs my arm. "Ow!" I yelp as he grips my neck from below. "Get off!" I crunch my chin down and he loses his grip, only to catch the bottom of my shirt. "How does Maurecia put up with you?" I ask half astonished and half annoyed. He then sinks his teeth into my pancreas. "Ow!" I shout before seeing a nearby wall. A dark grin appears on my face as I firmly body slam the wall. Fluffy falls onto the ground dizzily. I feel I've won the fight.

"Okay can we stop now?" He snaps out of it and growls at me. He doesn't move but I can tell he still wants to maim me. "Look. I'm sorry you got left in the locker for a night okay. But it's only because I accidentally knocked Maurecia out." He flinches then his glare comes back.

"AYEII!" He screeches at the top of his lungs then leaps forward. This time though I managed to catch him. As he flew towards my chest I brought my hands together in a clapping form just below his quills, and pressed my thumbs against his tiny arms. At this point I've restrained him real good. He can't move any muscles and he can't reach my chest again to bite. But he didn't lose his anger. He screeched at me again.

"AIEY!" He is really giving me a headache.

"Please stop screeching." I say only for him to ignore me. "Be quiet!" I shout. I know he knows he's trapped but intimidating me is his only option. Unfortunately for him he's in checkmate. He continues screeching and I feel my frustration plug inside my brain being pulled.

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE PAIN IN THE ASS!" I scream as loud as I can. His mood immediately changes into sadness. He cries a little but I'm sick of it. "Quit crying!" I yell but he continues. I sigh and then I bring him to the point our noses are touching.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" I say fiercely and he opens his eyes. I can feel him shivering in my hands. "I don't know what your problem is but you always have to make a pest of yourself!" His lips quiver like he's going to cry again. I sigh.

"Why do you always pick on me?" I ask. "Is it because I used you to block a dodgeball? Because I'm sorry, but that's no reason to hold a grudge against someone." He shakes his head and then I drop him on the floor. "Then what the hell is your problem?" He stands there looking sad. "Well? Are you gonna show me?" I ask half demanding. He stands there for a few more seconds, and then he crawls back to Maurecia's backpack.

"What do you have in there?" I ask looking a little confused. He crawls back carrying a large scrapbook I've never seen before. "What's this?" He just leaves it next to me then walks to the end of the hall and sits there. I open the book and on the first page I see, I notice images of Maurecia punching me.

"Oh ha, ha." I say sarcastically. "Very funny. I never knew Maurecia was sadistic enough to save pictures of me getting hurt." Suddenly Fluffy walks back. "What now?" I ask. He then tears the entire page off and eats it. After that page I see some things I'd never imagined. The first photo is the first time I met her after she saved me from falling items.

-Me saving the boy of my dreams, it says. "Okay… I guess she did save me once but even so…" Fluffy turns the page for me then without looking, he points at a bunch of photos I can't believe I'm seeing. He then goes back to the end of the hall to let me continue. I read the top which is labeled 'Friendly friends.'

-The captain of the science club. There is the photo of me with my rocket.

-Our inspiration. There is a photo of me motivating the tetherball team.

-'Go Todd, go Todd, go Todd!' It's an image of me playing my video game with her watching and cheering me on.

-Please give me a detention! I'm wearing Kidswatter's tie and taking his job for the day. I continue scrolling through images of us eating lunch together, walking down the halls and stairways together, and taking participation in school activities together.

"Okay I guess she doesn't hate me. But she definitely doesn't love me." I say. Fluffy makes a book symbol in his hands and motions me to turn. I turn the pages until I hit a section that catches my attention immediately.

"Romantic times?" I ask. Fluffy, still looking sad, gives me a thumbs up. I look down at the book. The first photo I see is of me and me only.

-Todd, the boy of my dreams. I notice she drew a couple of hearts around the label and a large heart around the photo itself. Then I see an image of us last Valentine's Day. Our desks were locked together.

-Love hurts. I see me holding her ponytail as she moves around. I chuckle slightly at that. The next one is of us doing our dance.

-We're the champions! I didn't think she'd remember that one. It was the only time we'd planned her punching me but we changed our plans at the last minute. Next I see a photo of us holding hands in a raft.

-Just me and him. A smile appears on my face. I am so surprised to see these all of a sudden. I see a photo of the Halloween dance.

-My knight in shining armor. I feel a tear make its way out of my right eye. I had a great time that night and it looks like she did to. I turn to the final page and see an image that I'll never forget. It was the third day I was in this school, the walls were closing in and she was too afraid to let go of the dangling light until I told her I'd catch her. After she let go I got squashed pretty badly but she was grateful for being saved.

-My hero. I notice she drew hearts all around this page. At this point I'm in tears, happy tears. I never knew Maurecia kept all of these images and frankly I hadn't remembered any of these events myself. I spent all my time thinking about how often she hurts me to even consider thinking of good times we shared. I kept trying not to look back.

"Wow. She really does love me doesn't she?" I turn to Fluffy and he gives me another thumbs up, followed by a couple of tears streaming down his face. I'm confused for about three seconds but then it hits me.

"Hey Fluffy." I say calmly. "Are you worried I'll take Maurecia's attention and she won't love you as much?" He nods twice then bursts into tears. I actually feel a little sorry for him. I didn't know he had such sincere feelings. "Hey." He looks up at me. "I'm sorry." I tell him. He sniffles then slowly crawls over to me. I wonder what's on his mind until he gently hugs my arm.

"You're sorry to?" I ask and he nods. I'd never seen him so emotional. "I forgive you." I say. He smiles for a second and then let go of my arm. After that he went back to the end of the hall. I think he feels neglected. He sits there shivering and groaning very lightly. I pull out my lunch box. He looks like he's starving. I take out my pack of peanut butter crackers, remove the wrapping, and hold a cracker out.

"Hey Fluffy." He looks up slowly. "Do you like peanut butter?" His face lights up and he runs towards me. He stops at my hand and puts his tiny fingers on the cracker, then shyly looks back up at me. "It's all yours pal." He then grabs the cracker and takes a bite.

"Mm." I hear him hum contently. I've never seen him eat before. He continues until the cracker is gone. I pull out another one and hold it out.

"You want another one?" He smiles contently and takes it. As he begins eating it I pour the other four into my hand. "You know what? You can have them all." His smile widens. I sit there as he eats my second, third, fourth, and fifth cracker. He looks so happy and adorable! I feel pretty good about myself for a minute. After he finishes the fifth one he picks up the last one, but he doesn't eat it.

"Are you full?" I ask. He shakes his head but continues to hold the cracker out. "You want me to have the last one?" I ask. He nods. "It's alright, I really don't need it." He doesn't put it down. "I know you haven't eaten since yesterday so you deserve it more than me." He raises an eyebrow. Then he breaks it in half and hands me the larger half. "You want to share it?" He nods. "Okay."

I take my half of the cracker and eat it. It tastes delicious, especially since I haven't had anything else yet this morning. I watch as Fluffy eats his half and licks his lips. He yawns after he's done, crawls to my arm, and hugs it. I never knew he had a kind side to him. Ever since I first saw him I thought he was a wild monster. I guess he thought the same of me. But this time he's being gentle and not trying to scare me.

"Hey." I pick him up slowly and hold him in my hands. "Are we friends now?" That smile leaves his face quickly. He shrugs. I raise an eyebrow. "Let me rephrase that." I say. "I want to be your friend. So do you accept?" He smiles and nods. "Okay!" I exclaim as I hug him gently to avoid his quills. I hear him purr contently in my arms.

"You know, I don't think we've ever had any official bonding time before." He shakes his head. "I kind of wish we had though." He nods. "I used to think you were the devil himself." I hear him chuckle. "And you thought the same of me right?" He nods. I give a hearty laugh and he joins me. After about a minute I hold him in my hands again and he looks into my eyes. This time he's not sad or scared or angry. I feel proud to finally have erased a long lasting grudge.

"Fluffy, you're actually really adorable." He continues purring. "And I'm sorry if I hurt you a few minutes ago. I've had a tough time releasing my anger recently." He gives me a gesture to flip my right hand over. "Um. Okay." I flip it over. Then suddenly he licks the spot I got pricked. It stings very slightly but I know he's only trying to help. He then climbs up my shirt and licks the area between my chest and neck where he scratched me. I chuckle a little.

"Thanks pal." I tell him and he gives me another thumbs up. Then after he's done he turns back to the scrapbook. He jumps off of my hands and stares at the book for a few seconds. Then he looks back up looking sad.

"What is it?" He points at Maurecia in a picture, points at me, and then punches Maurecia in the photo. After that he shrugs. "Oh, are you asking why I hurt her?" He closes his eyes and then nods. "Well Fluffy, I don't know if you want to know. It's actually pretty sad." He looks up and folds his hands together in a praying motion. I take a deep breath and sigh. "Okay. You deserve to know." I look back to the day prior.

"Yesterday I came into the building in a horrible mood. You actually witnessed me flipping out and screaming at Mrs. Jewls on Monday, and whether you liked or hated me at the time, you have to admit she punishes me a lot and frankly I was kind of sick of it."

"Mm hm." He hums softly. I think he knows where this is going.

"And furthermore I really don't know why she punishes me. I really don't try to be a bad student like most kids who receive punishments do. I follow the rules, or at least the normal ones, pay attention in class, take tests seriously and even ace them, but then I end up going home early for simply trying to fit in with everyone else. It's very infuriating sometimes." He hums again. I can tell he understands what I'm saying.

"So as I was leaving the room, I'd already had more than I'd ask for even on average, and Maurecia punched me again!" He frowns. "Like, really hard." He sighs. "And even so she waited until I didn't expect it either. It felt like a battering ram colliding into my scapula. You know what I mean?" He nods.

"So long story short, yesterday I heard her shout 'Hi Todd!' and got scared. For most of the morning I was hiding from her so I wouldn't get punched. But when I heard her call my name I felt screwed. I've tried running away many times but they were always in vain. She's much quicker on her rollerblades than I've ever been and while I was able to dodge a few punches that day, she doesn't quit until she's satisfied." Fluffy folds his arms and I'm a little confused who's side he's currently on.

"So when she got close enough, I closed my eyes since I knew my potential fate and I didn't want to watch myself do this. I turned and punched her as hard as I could, I was aiming at her shoulder but again I wasn't watching, so I actually hit her in the forehead." Fluffy gasps. "Then, just when I thought it was over, she kept rolling until she rolled down the stairs, backwards, and hit the wall head first." Fluffy looked so scared. I made complete eye contact with him.

"So you see, I wasn't trying to injure her, I just wanted to make my point with her about not wanting to get punched daily. I tried talking to her but it didn't work. I figured the only way she'd take it seriously is if she knew how it felt. The environment wasn't in her favor. But I'm truly sorry it happened. And I carried her all the way down to the ground level to save her faster." Fluffy's face instantly changes, he looks surprised.

"What?" I ask. "Does it surprise you that I carried her down thirty floors?" He nods. "She's in the hospital right now and she's still unconscious. It's uncertain when she'll wake up but it likely won't be this week." He begins crying, I feel my voice begin breaking and more tears coming. "I'm so sorry Fluffy! I really am. If I could go back in time and restrain myself, I would've taken the punch." Fluffy suddenly stops and gives a sad smile. Like he was sad and saw something heartwarming. He then climbs back onto my stomach and hugs me lightly. I stop crying.

"You're awfully forgiving today. Why is that?" He just looks into my eyes and sits there. I can tell he understands everything I say completely perfectly. It's almost as if he feels my pain. "Do you ever feel neglected?" I ask. He nods but doesn't stop smiling or crying. It's like he's sad but he's fighting his own feelings to remain happy. I honestly don't know what's on his mind.

"Fluffy are you happy or sad right now?" He holds his hands flat upwards and moves them up and down in a shrugging manner, I think he's uncertain of his feelings. "If you're mad at me for hurting Maurecia then it's completely justifiable." His tears disappear, he sighs and makes what I'd describe a humble frown. Maybe? His eyes are closed and he seems pretty adamant.

"Are you mad?" I ask and he shakes his head. "Are you sure?" He nods. "You have the right to hate me now." He opens an eye for a second and then shakes his head again. "You don't hate me?" He nods. "Or you don't hate me anymore?" He nods again. "But are you disappointed?" He nods. "In me?" He pauses and opens his eyes. He brings his thumb and pointer finger close together. "You're a little disappointed in me?" He nods. "How about Maurecia?" I ask and his adamant frown flashes off. He gives me a wider symbol this time.

"Are you more disappointed in Maurecia?" He sighs and nods lightly. I know he's trying very hard to communicate with me but I cannot understand him and he knows it. "I'm so confused. Is there another way of you making yourself clear?" He shrugs. "How about we play charades? You nod whenever I'm correct." He gives me a thumbs up and crawls to the end of the hallway.

He first folds over his shoulders, sticks his head up and walks forward whistling. "You're me." He nods and keeps going. Then he imitates me getting punched and hitting a wall. "So what you're saying is you understand why I did it? All the pain that lead up to me doing it." He smiles and nods repeatedly. I realize this isn't as hard as we both thought it'd be. He then stands up straight and looks like he's loosening a tie.

"Mr. Kidswatter?" I ask. He shakes his head. He then looks like he's walking to work holding a briefcase. "Hm." I hum. "This one's trickier. Is there an easier way?" I ask and he sighs. He then goes back to imitating Maurecia hitting me. Then he glares and walks out. I'm struggling to get what he means for a second until he makes a very worried face. "Maurecia got scared?" I ask. He nods and keeps moving. He shows me leaving the school then not returning. I think I'm getting some of it now.

"Maurecia got scared I'd leave the school for good and knew I was serious after that last blow?" He grins and nods. Then, still posing as Maurecia walks into what I'm guessing is a house and sits down. He mimics her talking and then switches locations and makes that same adult like face. I face palm.

"Oh! Her dad?" He grins and nods. "That makes things a whole lot easier." I say as he continues. I then see him acting out her telling him about me, him questioning her, her punching me, then him looking unimpressed. Then he points making a serious face, makes a punching motion, and then glaring while shaking his head. "He told Maurecia punching is unattractive?" I receive a thumbs up. Then while posing as her dad he makes a hugging motion and she looks surprised.

"Wait a minute. I think I have this figured out." He stops. "He told Maurecia that instead of punching me, she should hug me and then I'd know her feelings?" He gives a very enthusiastic smile and nods. "So the second I threw a punch at her, I wasn't avoiding a punch, but instead a hug?" His smile disappears and he nods. "And you're disappointed in me for doing it." He nods. "But you see it was pretty logical of me to assume she would've hit me right?" He nods at that to. I stand up and get that serious face back.

"I'm sorry Fluffy but I don't believe that in the slightest." He looks sad for a second. "You mean to tell me Maurecia was actually going to stop punching me and hug me yesterday." He nods and proceeds to look worried. "Fluffy, that isn't like her at all. She didn't look any more enthusiastic yesterday than any time in the past she punched me. If she was going to change don't you at least think she'd make a different approach?" He shrugs. I know it's hard for him to tell since he didn't see it.

"Fluffy are you being 100% honest with me?" He nods and prays I'll believe him. He hasn't lied to me yet, but what he's telling me doesn't seem right. I really want to believe him but a part of me thinks it's too unlikely. I've never seen Maurecia hug anybody before. She's punched me countless times and never once bothered to lower the net force. In fact that last one was harder than ever before.

"Fluffy, you have seen her punch me many times before haven't you?" He nods. "Are you completely sure she would've hugged me?" I feel I've gotten to him. He shrugs. I know he's not lying to me because he didn't see it when it happened so he can't be sure. "So you're not sure. Are you?" He nods. "But you think she would've hugged me?" He continues nodding. "Okay Fluffy. I think I can trust you. Though I can't fully bring myself to believing she would've hugged me, I'll suspend my disbelief." It feels like a fifty-fifty chance right now.

"One more thing." I say catching his attention. "While Maurecia is in the hospital you need someone to take care of you. Don't you?" A smile suddenly appears on his face. He's so cute when he's happy! "I don't have any pets right now and I've never owned a small one. If you're willing to behave yourself, I wouldn't mind taking you in temporarily." He looks so excited his eyes sparkle. "And I've got a lot more peanut butter at home." He jumps with joy. "Okay Fluffy. It's settled! You can come with me until-" Suddenly I'm interrupted.

"Todd is that you?" I hear Mrs. Jewls say while walking up the stairs. "Who are you talking to?"

"Hide!" Fluffy runs the end of the hall and hides behind the last locker. Mrs. Jewls continues.

"Todd what is on your mind?" She asks me looking kind of upset.

"Nothing Mrs. Jewls." I say nervously. "I just wanted to come to school early." She raises an eyebrow.

"For what reason?"

"I guess I just couldn't wait to get here. I rode my skateboard to the school." I say showing her my skateboard.

"Might I ask why you brought a skateboard?" She asks. "I know you're not into extreme sports." I can't disagree with that.

"Well Mrs. Jewls, you don't need to be into extreme sports to have a skateboard. I just thought it'd be easier to get around places." She looks a little concerned.

"I see Todd." I grin. "But it doesn't look like it fits inside your bag. Where will you put it for future kindergarten bus rides?" I frown.

"Well Mrs. Jewls, maybe now that I have a skateboard I won't need to ride the kindergarten bus again." She glared.

"Todd! The kindergarten bus is supposed to be a symbol of discipline so students will improve their behavior. You bringing an alternative is something that will not be tolerated." She walks into her room and prematurely puts my name on the discipline list.

"But Mrs. Jewls. I did it because-" I'm halted.

"No buts Todd. I've read the rulebook and this time I'm using my power correctly. If you try to make an argument I'll add a checkmark next to your name." I'm getting scared. She and I both know my pass has expired and this time I don't have a rule to throw in her face. I walk to my seat and sit down. It's only 7:30 but I'm here so I might as well sit now. What I'm completely oblivious of though, is Fluffy had overheard us talking. He crawled into the room without either of us spotting him until he was under my chair. He tapped my leg a few times then I look down and pick him up.

"Fluffy what are you doing?" I ask. He makes an annoyed face and points at Mrs. Jewls, who's sitting down at her desk and reading a book, completely oblivious of us. "I know. I don't want her to treat me like this but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm the student and she's the teacher. And while she's morally inferior, she's legally dominant."

"Hm." Fluffy crosses his arms. I make a slightly annoyed face and pick him up.

"Fluffy, please do not get me in more trouble!" I whisper sternly while setting him in my bag. I don't zip it but he looks annoyed. To my luck though he didn't protest but he looks like he's preparing an evil plan. I choose to turn away and start playing my Game Boy.

 **Author's Note: Okay, this is definitely a spot in the story I'm not used to stopping at. But I think the next part needs to be conserved for the next chapter. I wanted to make this one the cutest chapter and I did my best. It makes me feel proud to know people like my writing and want to read more. Next chapter is coming soon. Thank you all for reading and have a nice day!**


	5. A Friend in Need

A Friend in Need

 **Authors Note: Attention Readers! I'm beginning to pick up the pace on my story because I'm actually starting to love the characters more the more I write about them. Each chapter so far has been longer than the former and that's one of the main reasons I update it every few days. But I'm taking more and more time out of my life that wouldn't have been spent doing anything better in order to keep it up. And receiving positive feedback motivates me to publish more! It's going to be so terrific when it's finished. This chapter will be done a little differently beginning in a long monologue. So without further ado, let's get into it! Good luck new friend!**

Fluffy's POV

I don't understand what Todd is doing. I mean I know he's very gentle and well behaved but he's also been extremely stressed lately. I can't help but think part of it is my fault for treating him like dirt since I first saw him. But, today we became friends so I think my portion of stress is gone. I sit inside his unzipped backpack and stare at him as he plays his video game. He actually looks pretty happy. I can't imagine what's on his mind but it's probably a lot of things. I don't like this at all because I do feel neglected right now. Todd knew I felt that way earlier and that's when he warmed up to me and feed me his crackers. Those delicious peanut butter crackers! After trying to scare or even scar him, he put our differences aside and fed me. It's a debt I want to repay somehow but I don't know how yet. I really owe him one and it hurts me just thinking about it. After all this time I was mean to him he snapped at me, learnt my feelings, and then comforted me. I feel really guilty for all those evil things I did or tried to do to him. To think I abused this tenderhearted boy all this time, him forgiving me only makes him more innocent and therefore I'm guiltier.

Right now I feel a little neglected because I was trapped in a locker for a night and now I'm being ignored again. The only thing that always makes me happy is my owner Maurecia. But now due to an accident caused by Todd, she's not here. I wish I could visit her in the hospital but I'm not a human. I don't go to hospitals and therefore I don't know the location. It seems a little controversial because the only way I could potentially get there now is if Todd took me there. I could try going home but Jerome isn't very fond of me. He says pets should stay at home but Maurecia insists I join her. I know Jerome won't take me to the hospital with him. But would Todd? Would he go out of his way to make me happy? I really don't deserve anything else from him. But he's a very sweet person, would he do that for me? The more I think about Todd, the more I think about Maurecia, and thinking about Maurecia makes me think of Todd even more. This feels like a paradox I'm uncertain of. I can't hate Todd anymore. He's not the person who took care of me since I was born, but he's someone who'd be willing to in a heartbeat. And that's why I'm with him now. I sit and watch him play his Game Boy. It's nice to see him having some fun, but it's not getting me anywhere. He's not used to me as a friend yet so chances are he doesn't know how to bond with me or know if I can make him happy. It hurts! But even so it hurts because I never gave him a chance. But he gave me a chance and that's all I have. He forgave me and now he's my caretaker, temporarily. But thinking about how he wants to leave the school when the week's over, that hurts me even more. He'll probably wait till Maurecia gets back before he changes schools or at least take me to her house. I hope he knows where to find it though. Kidswatter doesn't remember everyone by their address.

As he plays I think about it some more and realize there's no real way of winning for me. I've warmed up around Todd and now I want to show him I'm sorry. I know he doesn't care if I do that or not but it's still morally fair if I did. And he's right about taking abuse all the time from everyone. I wish sometime he'd do something about it. It could really grant him some respect around here from both Mrs. Jewls and the students. But the other scenario is Maurecia takes me back, Todd transfers back to his old school, and Maurecia is heartbroken for losing him. I mean I think she'll spend more time hugging and being around me but they won't all be happy times. I'll be her comforter when she's sad. It won't be fun consoling a heartbroken girl every day.

Thinking about it more critically, Maurecia has been a lot happier the past year and I've had more fun in that year than ever before! She's always so happy and upbeat and when she's upbeat she's wild! I love wild! She even got me my own pair of skates and allowed me to ride to school on my own wheels. I mean she's been happy for a long time but never this happy. It's probably because of Todd. Todd is the one boy she never stops thinking about no matter what. It's like he was the source to her happiness. The more she saw Todd the happier she seemed to the point where she had to punch him just to release some of the excitement. It's too bad she couldn't find a wall or something to hit instead. But at home she'd be more social with me when she wasn't at school. I guess I did try to absorb too much attention from her to even consider Todd, but he's a loving guy. And I know in a heartbeat Maurecia will forgive Todd once she wakes up. She's more adamant about her feelings than her pain, something Todd lacked for a while.

Then it all suddenly hits me! Todd is the one thing that makes her happy all the time, other than me of course. But scaring Todd away has made her a little, less happy. But Todd always tries to be happy around everyone including Maurecia despite the constant pain in his shoulders. But as crazy as I think it is, what if they were in love? I know Maurecia loves Todd but how does he feel? She's super crazy about him and he hardly tries to care about her. But does he really not like Maurecia or is it what I'm hoping it is? I'm hoping him feeling pain and humiliation has trapped him in a void where he doesn't feel love. It's a real shame and part of that void was caused by me, but can it be filled? Can I somehow undo that void? I always scared Todd away because I thought he'd take Maurecia's love for me away. But it actually appears that if otherwise he'd be more confident in his life and he'd be less scared of the other students or his teacher. I've been partially responsible for depriving him of this feeling. But if Todd were in love with Maurecia, it might be too early to say for me. But maybe they'd both be happy and if Maurecia's happy then so am I. She gives up everything for me and Todd gives up everything for everyone else. I think I see it.

If I wanted attention from Maurecia I'd abuse Todd to get it. When Maurecia wants Todd's attention she abuses Todd to get it. But he doesn't abuse anyone or even worry about his own agenda until others are satisfied. Its official, I like Todd a lot. I can't say I love him because I only started liking him today, but he understands the feeling of neglect better than anyone else. He's invisible to everyone until he gets in trouble. I feel like the same thing applies for me. And he knew I felt neglected and did something about it. I didn't deserve his help but he did it anyways. But he really deserves help now. He needs better friends than he has and deserves a far better teacher.

I feel like if I can somehow get Maurecia and Todd together then maybe, just maybe, I could make all three of our lives better. Maurecia will be happy that Todd loves her, Todd won't constantly get hurt or be afraid to be around her and he'd be more confident in this school, but what would I win? It's tough to say right now but somehow... a small part of me thinks I'll be satisfied if it happens but I can't tell why yet. But Todd has done so much for everyone including me. Both me and Maurecia would've died that day if Todd weren't there to save us. I never thanked him for doing it either. … I never thought I'd say it but, I actually kind of want them to be together now. The fact that Todd carried her down thirty floors shows a lot of compassion. And I know Maurecia can change her ways. With a little time she'll lose the need to punch Todd and they can be friends again. I feel like I need to do something about it! I poke my head out of the bag.

"Todd!" I shout. He turns towards me, pausing his game.

"What do you want Fluffy?" He whispers. I then remember he can't understand my voice. I think he wants me to be a secret kept from the other students, and honestly so do I. I try my best to communicate with him. I tap my head a few times.

"You have a headache?" I make an intellectual gesture. "You've been thinking?" I nod. I need some way to satisfy him since satisfaction seems to be the one thing he never has. But in order to do so I need to pay attention to what stresses him. I point at him.

"You've been thinking about me?" He asks and I nod. "But why?" I smile and point at his chest. "You think I have a nice shirt?" I shake my head and try pointing more specifically on the left side of his chest. "What, did I spill something on myself?" He asks and I roll my eyes. I make a fist and motion it expanding then shrinking. "My heart?" I nod. "What about my heart?" He asks. I then put both fists together then separate them. "Is my heart broken?" I nod. "I don't think so. Why does it concern you?" I think I'm on the right track.

I put my fingers over my eyes. "Am I hiding something?" I face palm. This might be difficult. I walk in place and bump into an invisible wall. "Am I blind?" He asks. I hold a finger out and nod. Then I point to my own heart to see if he makes the connection. "I'm not blind and I can see you." I face palm again. Then I point at him, his eyes, and his heart. "Am I blind about my feelings?" I grin and give him a thumbs up. "No. I know when I'm happy or sad." But does he know how to feel love? That's what I'm trying to ask him.

I point back at his heart. "What is this about my feelings you want to know?" I then act as Maurecia fainting from her emotions. "Is that Maurecia?" I shrug. I wanted to imitate just any person in love but Maurecia was the only one I've actually seen so it was my only option. I point at him then make Maurecia's love-struck face. "Am I in love with Maurecia?" He asks and I flinch. I was about to shake my head but I'm more interested to know if he's got an answer for that.

"Well… part of me thinks I am." My eyes widen. "But I know you don't want that in the slightest so I'll stay out of your way." He turns back to his Game Boy. I face palm at that to. Now he doesn't want to get in my way with Maurecia? I appreciate he's taking my usual opinion into account but my opinion isn't the only one that matters here. I do think I'll spend less time with Maurecia if they're in love, but I've always gotten my way in the past and it seems like Todd never gets his way. Furthermore he doesn't fight to get his way. I mean he yelled at Mrs. Jewls the other day but he still ended up on the kindergarten bus. And believe me! I don't want to deal with kindergarteners today and Todd's my ride!

I stare at Mrs. Jewls, growling subtly. She's the worst teacher in the world and it's not hard to see. Formerly I was okay with Todd leaving early since it would limit the time he had with Maurecia each day. But today Maurecia isn't here. And now that she's in the hospital I know Todd has a lot on his mind. Frankly so do I, but it's hard to look at my thoughts knowing Todd is unsatisfied and isn't doing anything to get the closure he deserves. I never stopped to think of Todd feeling neglected because I was too concerned about myself. But he understands that feeling far more than I do.

After a while the whole class, minus Maurecia, shows up and they're all in what appears to be a good mood. But why are they so happy? They're a bunch of idiots who don't even try to earn a grade or make themselves smarter. They just know Mrs. Jewls will give them an A for no reason without even bothering to see what they've done. If Todd wants an A he actually earns it. He probably doesn't need to earn it but he shows effort. He doesn't copy anyone else's answers, he doesn't sketch a photo, read a rulebook, or stay asleep during the school day. He doesn't dress like an elf or stand on his head either. My god I'm surrounded by idiots! And to think the only student I hated was the only completely sane one. I kinda want to stab each person in this room with a quill just to see if they're smart enough to react to the pain.

"Okay class it's wonderful to see you all." Mrs. Jewls says cheerfully. "Now before we begin our reading assignment, are there any questions?" I see the nerdy girl raise her hand. "Yes Dana?"

"Why does Todd have his name on the discipline list this early?" She asked. *Good question.* I think. *Wait until you hear the idiotic reason why.*

"Well Dana, Todd brought in a skateboard today." She says. So Todd can't bring in a skateboard but the tall blonde girl can bring in a life sized bike that she drives at a speed most motorcyclists are lucky to get to? And she drives it _inside_ the school. Not just outside of it. Mrs. Jewls continues. "And he said his reasoning for doing it was so he wouldn't need to ride the kindergarten bus anymore." I hear Todd sigh.

The sad look on his face is truly heartbreaking. I mean it's usually not a big deal for him because he seems used to sadness. But this time the sadness is a result of Maurecia's injury, neglect from the other students, and being the target of Mrs. Jewls's issues. It's not really surprising to see why he wants to leave this school. I poke my head out of the bag, growling somewhat audibly. It's no longer than a second that Todd spots me and flinches.

"Fluffy get back in the bag!" He whispers sternly. I poke back into the bag as he leans over to try to close it. After I'm out of sight I hear some more talking.

"Todd!" Mrs. Jewls abruptly says. "Who are you talking to?" She asks him. Todd began sweating and looking around. I feel both scared and sorry for him.

"Nothing Mrs. Jewls." He says as he grabs a pencil. "I was just trying to find a pencil and I was having a hard time finding it. That's the reason I was talking to myself." He smiles widely trying to look innocent.

"Todd if you didn't already have one out that means you're unprepared." She writes a checkmark next to his name.

"Come on Mrs. Jewls!" He says sadly.

"No talking!" She holds the chalk close to his name to intimidate him. He closes his mouth and holds his head down. "Good now pay attention." She says.

I glare intensely. I mean I'm sure part of his stressed is caused by having to scale a thirty story building each day, getting punched by Maurecia, and getting sent home early for things that aren't reasonable. Plus there are more factors such as eating Mrs. Mush's disgusting food or hearing his address on the intercom instead of his name. And furthermore going home early means he needs to walk thirty flights a second time and that's too much for average students any day. But the kindergarten bus is a headache waiting to happen! Don't get me wrong, I played a large role in his daily level of stress by shrieking at him, but that's only because I hardly knew him and thought he was a threat to my bond with Maurecia. Mrs. Jewls has had him for a year and a half now and he's extremely responsible, caring, respectful, trustworthy, and selfless. And I guarantee she knows that. What threat does he oppose to her? Is she afraid that since he's the only normal student that he'll somehow challenge her power? She abuses it anyways. I stay silent for the rest of the hour enraged and spiteful. When we get to the lunch room he hides me in his lunchbox.

"Okay Fluffy let's eat." He says as he sits down. I want to come out so the two of us can have a conversation or at least a one sided conversation but I manage to remain silent inside the box.

"Sandwich please." He says. I think he doesn't want to risk poking his hands on my quills. I reach out and hand him his sandwich. He unwraps the sandwich and begins consuming it. "Cheese stick." He says while holding out his hand. I hand him the string cheese. I watch as he peels it into smaller pieces. He hums audibly indicating he enjoys it. "Hide!" He suddenly says as I slide into the box. The nerdy girl came in and sat down next to Todd.

"Hey Todd." She greets him. "Are you enjoying your day so far?" I roll my eyes.

"Yeah Dana." *Really Todd?* I think to myself. "I'm actually in a pretty good mood today." I don't know how he avoids the anger. He's already 2/3 of the way to that toddler bus and he doesn't even show a little anger. Whenever Todd was around Maurecia I didn't care who saw, I released that anger! And right now I feel Todd won't show it. But he was willing to scream and swear the other day. What could Dana be up to?

"Did you have any positive events?" She asks him. The only positive was me becoming his friend. But neither of us want anyone else to know about that.

"Not really Dana. But I heard Maurecia is recovering slowly in the hospital." I raise an eyebrow. He didn't tell me about that. I mean I know it was early and we didn't get a lot of talking time, but I think he'd make Maurecia's condition a priority.

"Oh well that's good." Dana says. "I can't help but wonder if Fluffy is okay." My eyes widen and I think Todd flinched. "Do you think anyone found him?" Todd begins sweating a little.

"I don't really know." He says nervously. "Maybe he's still in her locker." Dana gets into her analytical tone.

"Actually her locker was open and her bag was on the ground." I flinch. "And her scrapbook wasn't in its place either!" Okay, that he took with him. "But what worries me is Fluffy could just be roaming the building right now." Todd tries hard to keep me hidden.

"Is that really a problem? He's a smart porcupine and I'm sure he can take care of himself." I feel flattered that he believes that. "Besides he's usually able to find places on his own." He's completely right about that.

"Todd. I'm worried about Fluffy for your sake." I guess I can't argue with that. "If he's roaming the building randomly he might come for you." I frown. "He's never been around you without growling or looking ready to shred you to pieces." That's true but prior to today I'd actually never even touched him. I'm not that viral in general, I just prepare to get viral for defensive purposes.

"I'm not afraid of Fluffy." He says. "I'm used to his intimidating shriek." She sighs.

"How do you think he'll respond when he learns what happened to Maurecia?" I roll my eyes. "Intracranial Hemorrhage isn't a condition to not fear. Especially when it's uncertain when the person will wake up." I flinch at that. I kick the side of the lunchbox to signal Todd to get us away from here. "Todd did your lunchbox just move?" She asks. Todd picks the box up and stands up.

"You know what Dana? Why don't we discuss this later?" He asks.

"But we still have so much to go over." She says. I don't think Todd wants to be overwhelmed with statistics.

"Not right now Dana!" He says as he runs out of the cafeteria. He unzips the top of the box and I poke my head out. "Okay I don't think I can keep this up." I raise an eyebrow. "Can I tell her?" I really don't think Dana can keep secrets.

"No!" I shout. I know the attitude I used is enough for Todd to know what I said. He sighs.

"You're not really easy to hide you know?" My standard frown turns into a sad one. I really want to help Todd out but first we need to communicate and make a plan. If he hides me in the box most of the day I won't have time to make any moves. I do have some plans that could ease Todd's stress consistency.

"Look Fluffy. I want to protect you, but right now I'm struggling to protect myself." We make direct eye contact. He brings his index finger and thumb close to each other. "I'm this close to being sent home on the kindergarten bus. Please don't disturb me during the next class period okay?" I give him a thumbs up, but I'm secretly crossing my fingers behind my prickly back. "Thank you. Now let's go." He says as he carries me back up to the thirtieth floor.

I don't want to lie to Todd, but right now he's not taking that initiative he had two days ago when he was blamed for stupid things. If she wants to send him home on the kindergarten bus, then she'll have to walk down thirty floors just to ensure he gets on the bus. Todd and I both know that's not gonna happen but Todd doesn't seem to notice that. My best interest is to either get Todd in trouble again and make sure he uses the skateboard, or resort to violence. Todd was willing to resort to violence yesterday and that's why Maurecia is in the hospital right now, but he won't use violence against the teacher? I know he could go to juvie for that but she's a horrible teacher who doesn't grade tests seriously and abuses her power. But maybe Todd can't do anything back to her? Yeah it doesn't look like he can. But he's still a desperate student hoping for better treatment from the people in Wayside. Why can't Mrs. Jewls at least sympathize for him? … No! I'm tired of feeling sorry for him! The more sympathy I give him means nothing. He only gets sadder and sadder as the day goes on and no one else seems to care! He needs my help, and I need to redeem myself for being such an asshole to him in the past. We finally get to the top floor.

"We should take this with us to." He says while picking up Maurecia's backpack. It's nice he's willing to carry her items on top of his own. He's a really hard worker and he needs closure. He's earned the closure but he hasn't received it yet.

At about 11:30 everyone is reading a book and I'm still in the bag, sketching a plan out for Todd I hope he's willing to read. I drew an image of Todd using the skateboard after being dismissed. If he thinks analytically then this could be his get out of jail free card. If he just uses the skateboard anyways then she can't do anything about it. She won't walk downstairs with him so what does he have to lose? He's not Dana, he doesn't obsess over rules. After I'm done I poke my head out quietly.

"Psst!" Todd turns toward me.

"What?" He whispers. I hand him the paper while winking. He takes the paper and looks it over. "Fluffy I can't use my skateboard." I shrug, hold my hand out forward, and then point at him. "What does that mean?" He asks.

"What's stopping you?" I say hoping he can read my lips.

"What?" I repeat my question and this time he seems to pick it up. "I guess I don't know. But I don't want to take any risks." Suddenly I pop back into the bag as I see a shadow.

"Todd." It was Mrs. Jewls. "Why aren't you reading your book?" She asks. Todd looked at a loss for words.

"Well I… had an inspiration and drew this sketch!" He said holding up his paper. The French girl turns over and gives him a thumbs up. Mrs. Jewls raises an eyebrow.

"Can I please see what you've drawn?" Don't do it Todd! I mentally know it won't do him any good if he loses the plan before he understands what it represents.

"Well Mrs. Jewls, I'd rather keep this one for myself." He says defending the drawing.

"You just showed Bebe the picture so why can't I see?" She asks. I growl again at the thought of where this is going.

"Can we just forget that I did this?" He asks. I hear a little desperation in his voice. My frown returns to my face. *Just let him slide Mrs. Jewls.* I think to myself.

"Give me that!" She takes the image out of his hands. "What? Todd! Were you planning on waiting for the bus to leave and then ride your skateboard home?" I face palm since there's really no way Todd can talk his way out of this.

"I was thinking about it." He mumbles. She makes her way to the chalkboard. I feel a hot spike go into my foot, and I really want to show this imbecile what that feels like! She circles Todd's name.

"Todd, I told you that you cannot use the skateboard to go home and now I think I'll need to micromanage you to the kindergarten bus from now on!" She says infuriated. Todd sighs.

"Can you believe this Fluffy?" He turns to his bag. "Fluffy?" I hear him say nervously, but there's no going back. I'm already halfway across the classroom floor before he faces forward nervously. He gasps as he sees me on the floor but I give him a thumbs up so he knows I have a plan. I hear another familiar voice gasp and I turn around to see the blue haired boy standing on his head like usual. I remove a quill and signal him to stay quiet. He gulps but I don't see him nod. I know he's on his head but I'd still like some confirmation! I walk towards him slowly.

"Please don't hurt me!" He shouts out loud. I grin with satisfaction then walk further.

"John." Mrs. Jewls steps forward as I jump behind her. "Who are you talking to?" He looks pretty scared.

"Nothing Mrs. Jewls. I wasn't talking to anyone." She frowns.

"Then why'd you proceed to freak out?" She asked him. I notice Todd speaks up.

"Mrs. Jewls. I'm sure John didn't intend to say that out loud. He might've-" She cuts him off.

"You stay out of this Todd." She says vigorously to him. "John, if you're going to talk during reading time then I'll have to put your name on the discipline list." She doesn't notice me standing right behind her when she grabs her chalk. John turns around towards Todd.

"Thanks Todd." He says as Todd gives him a thumbs up. But before Mrs. Jewls can start writing John's name down, I shove my quill into her right ankle with full force.

"OUCH!" She screams in pain and I notice Todd stands up and sees me. "Ow!" She falls on her bottom and pulls the quill out. "Ow that hurt!" Dana gets up.

"Are you alright Mrs. Jewls?" She asks. Then the next thing I know, the rest of the class dropped their books and stood up.

"I think I'm alright I just- OW!" I shove another one into the front of her foot. The students gasp. As she is about to get off the floor I jump onto her lap and hold another quill out. "Oh my goodness!" She screams in fear. I chuckle evilly and stab her in the stomach. "OW!" She yelps again. The entire class gasps at the sight of their teacher in pain but unfortunately for her, they're all too scared to touch me. I'm hoping Todd knows this is his cue.

"Get off me!" She cries. The chubby boy steps forward. "Help me Myron!" She shouts desperately.

"As future class president, I will bravely remove Fluffy from your shirt." As he moves closer I hold the quill up and shriek. "Oh my god!" He freaks out. "Maybe next time!" He runs behind Dana whimpering in fear. I climb up her shirt until I'm right below her neck.

"No! Don't hurt me! Please!" She desperately cries but I can only ignore her. I growl at her and hold the quill close to her throat. Todd gets up and walks over to us.

"Fluffy what are you doing?" He asks looking freaked out as well. It's nice to see him finally seeing me at my potential violent capability. But he overpowered me once and now's the time to do it again.

"Todd! Do something!" Mrs. Jewls cries in fear. I turn back around and grab her below the neck. "Please." At this point I see tears in her eyes. Nothing is more satisfying to me than turning the tables on this teacher. I swing the quill behind my head, looking prepared to stab her neck. She closes her eyes tightly, but luckily in time Todd grabs me by the sides.

"Gotcha!" He says. Mrs. Jewls opens her eyes and everyone is staring at Todd. "You and I need to have a very serious talk my friend!" He talks down to me. Mrs. Jewls gets up.

"Please take him away." She says. Todd grins lightly.

"I would but the bus driver of the kindergarten bus doesn't allow pets. I can't take him with me." He says. Suddenly his face lightens up as Mrs. Jewls grabs the eraser and removes his name from the discipline list.

"Well Todd, you'll just need to use your skateboard." She says and Todd smiles.

"Okay then." He grabs both backpacks. "I'll see you all again tomorrow." He then walks out of the room while carrying me. "What was that all about Fluffy?" I just wink at him. "You… planned that?" I nod. He chuckles, I chuckle back, and then he pulls me into his chest and hugs me. "Thanks pal." I snuggle into his arms. I'm glad I could finally help him gain the respect he needed from his teacher. He's so happy now and it's all because of me!

 **Author's Note: Well there you have it. Fluffy and Todd are friends now! This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I cannot wait to upload more. Thanks for reading and goodnight!**


	6. Hidden Feelings

Hidden Feelings

 **Author's Note: Attention students. Attention! Now that I've covered a couple of things I wanted to see on the show, I'm ready to continue shaping the story up on its own. From now on Fluffy's text will be in italics and he's also considered a main character. Not as much as Todd, but closely following him, if not just a strong supporting character. And now, let's get back to our good pals as they leave the school. (This chapter may astonish some of you)**

Todd's POV

"I'm free! I get to leave the school early and this time there isn't a kindergarten bus ride!" I exclaim. Fluffy claps for me. "And it's all because of you Fluffy!" He smiles. "You're the best!" He purrs as I hug him around his quills. We continue talking, or at least I'm talking, as I carry us down the stairs with both backpacks and my skateboard. Fluffy rides on my shoulder and he faces me so I don't prick myself.

"How'd you come up with that?" I ask him, he shrugs. "And why did you do it?" He holds his index finger up signaling me to stop asking. I guess he can't really act things out when my shoulder is his only platform. Then I remembered something.

"Hey Fluffy, earlier didn't you ask me what was stopping me from waiting for the kindergarten bus to leave?" He nods. "Then I think I can read your lips." Fluffy grins.

" _Oh really?"_ He mouths.

"I think so. You said; 'oh really' right?" He nods. "Then I can understand you when I watch you speak!" I exclaim. He jumps once for joy and almost slips off of me. "Whoa. Hang on tight pal." I say as he gets back on his legs. "So we can communicate now can't we?"

" _I guess so."_ He responds. It's pretty satisfying now that he doesn't have to act out his thoughts. We make it down a few more flights of stairs and continue.

"So what motivated you to give me a helping hand back there?" I ask as I face him.

" _You looked sad and kind of desperate."_ He's got me there.

"I kinda was wasn't I?" I say. "But how were you brave enough to attack Mrs. Jewls head on?"

" _I knew she'd be too scared to fight back."_ That's pretty true. _"And she doesn't have official authority over me."_ I'm a little confused.

"Did you say she doesn't have authority over you?" He nods. "But couldn't she have punished whoever possesses you?"

" _Of course, but she had no idea I was with you."_ So that's why he wanted to stay hidden. That makes sense.

"Well thanks. For a minute I didn't know whose side you were on." He smiles and shrugs. "But whatever happened, consider us even." Suddenly he licks me behind the ear. "Ha, ha! That tickles!" He licks me a couple more times as I chuckle. "Let's keep going." After about eight more minutes we're on the ground level and just as I'm about to walk out I bump into Louis. "Hi Louis!" I say enthusiastically.

"Hey Toddster." He responds. "Hey. Isn't that Maurecia's porcupine?"

"Who him? He's only my new best friend!" Fluffy pats my cheek.

"Awe. He's adorable!" Fluffy giggles. "I didn't know you two were friends." Louis says. I chuckle a couple of times.

"I don't think either of us knew either. Did you pal?" He shakes his head. "Nope. Doesn't look like it."

"How'd you two become friends?" He asks.

"I let him out of the bag today and fed him." Fluffy nods. "And he just got me off of the kindergarten bus." Louis grins.

"Whoa. That's pretty cool. I didn't know porcupines were that smart." I shrug.

"But enough of that Louis. Are there any news about Maurecia?" I ask. Fluffy looks at Louis smiling.

"Well… I haven't heard anything since yesterday." Both Fluffy and my expressions change in unison.

"Are you sure? Is it possible she woke up yet?" I ask desperately.

"They said they'd call us if she did." I feel a tear land on my shoulder. When I turn to the side I see Fluffy sniffling and small tears are forming in his eyes. "I'm really sorry Todd." Louis says with sadness. I try my best to sound positive.

"Okay. Thanks for the update." I say sadly as I walk outside. For a minute I'm pretty good at containing my tears, but seeing and hearing Fluffy crying on my shoulder is heartbreaking. Eventually I start crying to. "Sorry Fluffy." I say as I stroke his back, I accidently poke my index finger on a quill. "Ow!" I exclaim. Fluffy grabs my hand and licks my wound. I can't help but smile, I'm still crying, but smiling at the same time. "Thanks pal." I say. He sniffles for a second then smiles back.

" _You're welcome."_ He mouths to me. I set my skateboard down and then a couple seconds later we're on the road. After a couple of minutes neither of us are crying anymore. Though we still have a lot to talk about.

"Fluffy." He faces me. "We're still friends when Maurecia wakes up right?"

"Mm hm." He hums as we pass the kindergarten bus after it stops.

"And we're still friends at heart after I leave Wayside?" He flinches.

"Hm?" He makes a questioning sound.

"It's nothing personal. I just don't think I'm very happy there." I say. "Besides I'm not satisfied with my standards list."

"Huh?" I hear him mumble.

"I have a list of standards that I want completed before the week is over. But I think on Friday my dad wants my final decision. And it's still going really slowly. I only have one of them cleared so far." We make it to the sidewalk next to my house. "And I still have three more."

" _Can I help?"_ He mouths. My eyebrows lower.

"Sorry Fluffy but you weren't a factor when I wrote them down." I say as we enter my house. "Hi mom!" I say with excitement. She's on the couch doing work on her laptop. She's a college teacher but does all her grading and tests online. So she often doesn't leave the house unless it's a meeting day or something like that.

"Hi sweetie." She responds while putting her computer aside. "Is the bus back already?" I grin.

"I didn't take the bus." I say. She notices Fluffy on my shoulder.

"Is that a porcupine?" She asks sounding both a little scared and surprised. I chuckle and grin.

"Yeah. His name is Fluffy." I respond while stroking his top quills slowly to avoid poking myself.

"You named him Fluffy?" She asks looking concerned. Fluffy grins and folds his arms.

"He's not my pet mom. He just needs some hospitality until Maurecia comes back." She raised an eyebrow.

"Maurecia?" She asks. "You mean that wild girl who you said punches you all the time?" I roll my eyes.

"Yes mom. And she's also the girl I injured yesterday so Fluffy needs a place to stay." Her smile turns into a frown.

"Todd. We need to discuss that." I feel my shoulders are being weighed down. I'm honestly a little scared because I've never been in big trouble before. At least not at home. If you're fourteen and you have no siblings, it's not hard to stay out of trouble.

"Okay…" I say really slowly. "Are you going to punish me?"

"We'll see. But I think we need to discuss what happened and why you did it." I turn to Fluffy.

"You want to be part of this?" I ask and he shrugs. My mom takes initiative.

"And we're not keeping him for very long." She says while I roll my eyes.

"Why not? He's potty trained." I turn to him. "Right?" He nods. "Here watch." I open the front door and he steps outside. "Just knock when you're done." My mom looks kinda annoyed.

"Todd, I'm sure he doesn't understand everything you say. You should probably make sure he doesn't run off." I chuckle.

"What? And invade his privacy? Do you expect people to walk in on you in the bathroom?" She frowned.

"Todd, I thought you said you're the only one in the school with common sense." I grinned again.

"I thought I was." Fluffy knocks on the door. "But it seems Fluffy has it as well." Fluffy gives her a thumbs up. Her annoyed frown turns into an impressed unsatisfactory face.

"Okay I guess he can understand you." She agrees reluctantly. "But this is still something we have to discuss." I roll my eyes and grab an oven mitt.

"Fine." I then sit on a chair and Fluffy hops onto the armrest. I begin petting him with my covered hand. "What do we need to talk about?" I ask.

"A couple of things. One, your father says he wants your final decision on your school by Friday morning." I flinch.

"You mean this Friday?" I ask half scared. "I only have tomorrow to think about it!" She nods.

"The school says it's alright if you return, but they want to make an official announcement to all the students so they can welcome you back. They don't want to do that and then not see you show up, and your father doesn't want to keep paying for you to get a new school ID. Registration costs money you know?" I nod at that.

"But why can't I think about it over the weekend?" I ask.

"Because your father and I are kind of impatient right now. And honestly if you're going to hit people at Wayside then you're probably not safe to the students there." I frown.

"It was one punch mom. One punch! That girl has been punching me for the past year and a half and now that one unlucky punch hurts her, you think I'm dangerous?" I honestly thought that was pretty ridiculous.

"Not necessarily son. But there are rumors that everyone in Wayside has a twisted brain. This punch could be a red flag to your sanity." I glare. "You didn't ever try asking her politely to stop?"

"I've told her many times mom. But she never listened." Fluffy nods reluctantly.

"And you never told a teacher?" She asks.

"The teachers in the school have no concern over anyone's safety. If they did, then they wouldn't send you home on the kindergarten bus after you save the class from a horde of glow guppies!" I begin shouting closer to the end of that. Fluffy scoffs and folds his arms.

"Todd, I think you're imagining things. That's not safe and the school should be sued for that sort of thing." Well she is a teacher so she gets it.

"Tell me about it." I say. "But Fluffy is my witness when I say that I've taken constant abuse and humiliation every day." Fluffy gives her a thumbs up.

"I'm impressed you trained this porcupine to agree with you but-" I interrupt.

"I didn't train him. He just became loyal to me this morning."

"Well let me get to my point. Punching someone is never the answer to anything Todd." I sigh.

"I know mom. I was very agitated at the time and I regret doing it." She looks a little sympathetic.

"I know that sweetie. But you cannot undo that action." I sigh.

"I know. And it hurts me on the inside to know that I did. But after she hit her head on the wall, I carried her to the ground level to the ambulance." Fluffy smiles and faces me. I feel like a hero again.

"That's very generous Todd, but is she okay?" I'm a little scared to answer this.

"I don't know." She gasps. "She's not dead but it's uncertain when she'll wake up." I hate saying that sentence out loud.

"Well Todd it's over and there isn't anything you can do about it." She says looking very serious. "And as punishment you aren't allowed to bring your skateboard to school tomorrow." My eyes widen.

"What!" I exclaim. "That is not fair mom! What does my skateboard have to do with anything?"

"That you will need to go to school with everyone else on the bus. These could be your last couple of days at the school. You should spend as much time with your friends as you can." Fluffy growls at her.

"I think Fluffy is my only true friend." I say.

"And he cannot go to school with you." Both of us gasp in the same second.

"WHAT?" I nearly scream.

"Calm down son." She says quietly. Fluffy glares at her.

"Mom, Fluffy is the only person, or animal in the school who understands my feelings 100%. I was in a horrible mood this morning and he spent the entire day trying to make me feel better." He turns towards me and makes a semi-sad smile. "He's my best friend." I say. My mom looks astonished.

"You really do care about him don't you Todd?" She says.

"Yes I do. And he cares about me as well." I say hoping she'll understand.

"I just don't think it's right to have pets in school." I immediately respond.

"Maurecia has brought him into the school every school day since he was born. Wayside is a portion of his life." He nods. She finally speaks up.

"Okay Todd. You can take him with you."

"Thanks mom." I say.

"But you will need to ride the bus to and from school tomorrow." I nod.

"So be it." Fluffy nods with me. "Thanks for the talk." I get up and take off the oven mitt. Just as I'm getting to my bedroom door I hear her make one more comment.

"If she's not back at school by Friday you'll need to leave Fluffy with Mrs. Jewls." I close the door as she finishes that sentence.

"Let's hope that doesn't happen." He nods in agreement. "Well Fluffy, welcome to my room." He looks around at my collection of video games, action figures, and books. Yeah, I have my own personal library containing every book I've read since I learned how to read. I kept them all because each one is another adventure I once dreamed I was in. I noticed Fluffy seemed interested in the books.

"What are you looking at?" He points at my shelf. "You like my books?" I ask and he nods. "You like reading?" He shrugs. "Does it surprise you that I'm sentimental about literature?" He shakes his head. "Are there any books you recommend I check out?" He pauses, turns around slowly, and then nods. I wonder what is on his mind.

" _I do."_ I see him mouth. A casual smile appears on my face.

"Okay cool. What's it called?" I ask. He puts his hands together, chuckles, then makes direct eye contact with me.

" _I know you'll enjoy it."_ I notice he says. I shrug.

"Well I'm always open to reading new things." I say. "So where can I find it." He holds his pointer finger up for a second.

" _Though, please know you can't keep this one."_ I'm instantly confused. _"Is that alright?"_ He asks.

"Okay I'm a little slower now. Did you say I can't add it to my collection?" He nods. "I guess it's not a huge deal, but do you have any books on you?" A mischievous grin appears on his face and he crawls towards Maurecia's bag. "Uh, what are you looking for?" I ask and I notice he pulls out a purple covered book with Maurecia's name on it. I immediately know what it is.

"Is that Maurecia's diary?" I ask and he nods a few times. I make a concerned frown. "Fluffy you know I can't read that." He looks a little sad.

" _Awe, why not?"_ He asks. Does he even know what kind of things could be in it?

"Fluffy, a diary is a private book with personal events the person writes that they never share with anyone. Maurecia's deepest and most unknown secrets could be inside that book." He nods. I realize Maurecia tried to share secrets like this when I was principle for a day, but other than that I never came close to learning things she doesn't tell anyone.

" _Come on Todd."_ He says. _"You know you want to."_ I roll my eyes.

"No Fluffy, I don't want to." His mischievous grin disappears. "I don't think she'd be comfortable with me reading this, and honestly neither would I." He looks defeated. "Have you read it?"

" _I've been with her while she wrote in it."_ I suppose that makes sense. I guess if Fluffy was paying close attention to her while she wrote it there wouldn't be anything too embarrassing to see in there or he'd tell me first. I pull out my standards chart.

"Before I read anything else, I should update this." Fluffy jumps onto my bed. "These are my standards." I say. He looks over my chart carefully.

"1. Get Maurecia to stop punching me:

2\. Stop getting sent home early: √

3\. Gain respect from classmates: √

4\. Find something I can say I care about that can ease the pain."

"I think I can check off the second one since I've avoided the bus for two days straight now." Fluffy frowned, not angrily but rather unexpectedly. "I'm guessing you didn't know I made it through the day yesterday did you?" He shakes his head.

" _No I didn't."_ He mouths. _"How'd you manage to do that?"_ I shrug for a second.

"Kidswatter didn't care about me hurting Maurecia." Fluffy's expression changes as I speak. "So he gave me a diplomatic immunity pass and Mrs. Jewls couldn't send me home for that issue." He sighs. I guess he feels like getting me out of it today didn't mean as much now. "But hey. That's two standards now, and assuming I don't get punished again, starting on Friday I get my skateboard back." He points at the last one.

"Should I mark that one?" He nods. "What thing would I use for the standard?" He points his thumb at himself and I sigh. "Fluffy, you're a nice pet and you've greatly reduced my pain today, excluding that fight we had this morning, but you're not my pet." He looks a little disappointed. "You're not something I can verify is mine. If Maurecia gave you to me then I guess so, but you don't belong in this house and you're happier with her anyways." Fluffy sighs and picks up the diary.

" _Please read it!"_ He says. My unamused frown returns.

"Fluffy, that is a private book and it's morally wrong to observe it." He rolls his eyes. "Does Maurecia try to make her life an open book?"

" _To me."_ I see him say. _"But there are some things you should see before making you're final decision."_ I don't doubt that. But it's still very risky. I'd imagine everyone with a diary has some events they'd rather share than others, but Maurecia once wrote me a love note and then threw it in the trash before giving it to me. I think there are a few things she's too shy about to reveal to me.

"Fluffy…" His eyebrows rise in a prayerful motion.

" _Please?"_ I see him say. I'm confused as heck right now. Formerly his goal was to scare me away from Maurecia but now he wants me to read something that holds her feelings and daily perspective? Is he trying to get us together? It seems so odd for Fluffy of all people to do that. In just a short time I can tell he's learned to trust me and wants me to trust him. But Maurecia is the only person he loves. I may be his friend but he doesn't love me. It'd take time before he could bring himself to caring about me, especially with our history. But… is he trying to care about me? I know he wants me to stay at Wayside now but he's not my only concern. He's not even my pet. And furthermore if I went back in time to meet myself yesterday, or any day prior, past Todd would've never believed Fluffy would be his friend.

"Well…" His eyes and smile widen. "Maybe if I only read Monday's it'll be okay. She probably doesn't have that much to say." Fluffy scrolls through the diary and stops on Monday, November 12th. I open it up and set it on my lap. Fluffy jumps onto my bed and sits left of me. I begin reading it out loud.

Monday Morning

"-Dear diary, I don't know what to expect at school today but as long as I get to see Todd then I don't care! I'm still counting down days until graduation so we can officially be together." I stop for a second. "She's really planned her whole future out hasn't she?" Fluffy nods.

"-He's so cute! And every time I see him I feel an inordinate amount of excitement travel throughout my body. I feel my heart pound against my chest whenever he's near me. He's the only one who can do that. And by the time the school year is over, I hope to have him by my side every day for the summer. This summer was unbearably boring since I couldn't see Todd for three months!" I can't believe I'm reading this. It's pretty adorable.

"-But today I get to see him! I'm very privileged to have a classmate as smart, charming, and caring as him. And now that the bus has arrived he's probably in the school. I need to go find him." I pause.

"Okay Fluffy I'm very surprised to read that sort of thing. But about fifteen minutes later she tried punching me." He nods.

" _I know."_ He wasn't far away during that time. _"I actually encouraged her to hit you again."_ I didn't quite understand that one. He was in on this? I raise an eyebrow.

"Fluffy, you wanted her to hit me again?"

"Mm hm." He hums and nods shamefully. _"I said punching you harder leads to you getting her feelings better."_ Now I'm slightly annoyed.

"Fluffy, you do realize if you'd convinced her to stop she wouldn't be in the hospital right now, right?" He nods again. "So part of this is your fault."

" _I know."_ He mouths. I know he's sorry now but I've felt extremely ashamed in the past couple of days about that incident. I didn't know he was partially responsible to the circumstances leading to the event. But now that she's in a coma all we can do is say we're sorry. He reaches out and flips the page for me. _"Keep reading."_

Monday Afternoon

"-Oh no! Todd just recently left school with a temper! He sounded extremely serious and that glare he gave me, it haunts my soul. I tried punching him harder but it wasn't clear enough to him. Maybe the force I used was too overwhelming. Or maybe I hurt his poor head on the gumball machine." The next part catches my attention.

"-I actually thought he was hurt and wanted to make sure he was okay. But he impressed me when he got up immediately and ignored his injury. He's very tough but now he sounds adamant about leaving. I need to think of an idea to keep him here! And quickly!" I stop after that.

"Okay Fluffy I think that's enough of that for now." I say as I close the book. He shakes his head.

" _You need to read Tuesday morning."_ He mouths and I sigh.

"No Fluffy. I don't want to know what she wrote before I knocked her out." He looks a little sad but I think what I'm doing is necessary.

After a couple more hours we get to dinner. My dad made us a grilled chicken but I'm not really in the mood for greasy food tonight. Usually grilled chicken is one of my favorite meals but my appetite is a little lower today. I bring Fluffy to the dinner table and he sits next to my plate. I fix him up a bowl of salad.

"Son. Where'd you get a porcupine?" My dad asks.

"He needs someone to take care of him while Maurecia is in the hospital." They both sit down.

"Well Todd." He says. "I'm actually pretty upset you injured someone." I sigh.

"I know dad." I admit.

"But honestly, you should've told us about it last night." I can agree with him.

"Dad I didn't feel as bad about it last night." I say.

"Why not?" My mom asks. "Why weren't you concerned about it before?"

"I never said I wasn't concerned. I just didn't know how bad her condition was." My dad sighs.

"Son, you can't hit people." I shove a bite of chicken into my mouth. "Have you ever hurt anyone before?" I finish chewing.

"No dad, I haven't." I say. "But I have been hurt daily by this girl and the adults never did anything about it." He looks disappointed. My mom jumps in.

"Well sweetie, have you spent time making your final decision?" I nod.

"We both think you should go back." My dad comments, Fluffy flinches. I only sigh.

"You do?" He nods.

"If you're getting in fights with people at Wayside-" I interrupt.

"It was only one unfortunate punch dad! And she wasn't supposed to fall down the stairs." His eyebrows rise.

"You punched her while you were next to the stairway?" He asked.

"No. She wears rollerblades instead of shoes each day. She just happened to stay on her feet after the impact was made." I look back to my plate. It's getting harder to make eye contact with my parents.

"Okay son. We know you're not going to hit anyone again. But do you really want to continue going to a school where the principal ignores the children, the teachers don't report students for hitting each other, there's no elevator provided for students on the thirtieth floor, food makes children very sick, and you can be sent home halfway through the school day?" What I hate is my dad just reminded me all the reasons I wanted to leave.

"No dad. I really don't." Fluffy gasps. "But I've done so much for the school that it might not be safe for me to leave." He shrugs.

"Can you please go into further detail?" He asks.

"I've made the school day more efficient for most of the students who go there. When I was principal for a day I literally had to keep the building from falling with my bare hands." Fluffy flexes his arm.

"So the school isn't safe?" My mom asks.

"No it's safe and it's safe because I helped make it safe." My dad smiles.

"Well son, if you want to stay, I won't stop you. But I would like to know by Friday morning because it's getting late into the semester and grade check is coming up. If you're going back to your old school you'll need to get caught up on a bunch of things before semester tests." I finish my chicken leg as he says that.

"Okay dad I will." I stand up and clear my plate along with Fluffy's now empty salad bowl. "Can I go play some video games now?" I ask. My mom responds.

"But we still have so much to go over." She says worryingly. My dad grins.

"Sure son." She turns to him looking a little annoyed. "Let's let Todd have the rest of the night off. He's been a good boy this year and we haven't shown him how proud we are." I smile at that.

We get into my room, I play games until about nine thirty with Fluffy cheering me on, then I think it's time to go to bed. I take of my shirt and my green pants and toss my pillow on the floor.

"Okay Fluffy I didn't really plan this out ahead of time so I'm just gonna give you my pillow." I say as I unfold the pillow case. Fluffy crawls onto the pillow and lies on his side. I then cover him up with the case. "Are you comfortable?"

"Mm hm." He hums softly. I can imagine he's pretty tired after he had to sleep in a locker all of last night.

"Well goodnight." I say as I turn off the lights. I only hear Fluffy yawn and a couple seconds later he's out cold. I lay in my bed for about five minutes but I still can't sleep for some reason. Sometimes insomnia hits me. But what's causing my insomnia? Love? I have been thinking of Maurecia a lot lately, but I don't think I love her. If I did then I think I'd know. I think about it for a couple more minutes and then twist my lamp on. The bright light flashes but Fluffy remains sound asleep. I feel the cause of my insomnia is curiosity. No one likes that feeling because it only keeps them from knowing the truth but they can't just let go of it. I don't want to do this, but a small part of me says I need to. I turn over, grab Maurecia's diary and flip to yesterday's date.

Tuesday Morning

"-Dear Diary. It's 6:30 A.M. I'm at the school on the thirtieth floor, with my best friend Fluffy, and I'm waiting for my Romeo Todd. I just had a talk with my dad about my feelings and emotions. He seemed pretty impressed at some of the things I said about Todd. Specifically on how I admire every quality he has and I cannot describe how I feel when he's around. I've tried many times but even I inevitably can't describe to, even myself, how wonderful it feels. My mom always tells me to cherish my blessings, but Todd is a blessing I couldn't be more thankful for. He's so cute, caring, honest, and simply exceeds every expectation I had planned for the perfect boy, he's just too perfect in every possible way. But today, my dad has told me that my punching could be the thing driving him away. He cannot leave Wayside, it'd be too much for me to have to go through! Even though I only met him last year, I cannot imagine my life without him! It's not a life I want to live and I love living. But a life without Todd in it wouldn't be worth living for me. But today's the day he'll be mine! The first chance I see him today I'm going to skate up to him and, not punch, but hug him! I'll hug him tightly, gently, and very warmly. I know how compassionate he is so he may protest at first due to that mood he was in yesterday, but I know he'll calm down soon and eventually hug me back. Then if he's comfortable around me, I'll pull him to me slowly, hug him so tightly we'll feel each other's hearts beating against our chest from the intensity, then I'll finally get to whisper 'I love you' into his ear. Oh! His bus won't be long now! Today's the day I can finally show him how much I love him, even if he doesn't say he loves me back, I need to be brave. I need to overcome this intimidation that has held me back all this time. I better get to the school yard so I can practice my confession! The first time I see Todd today, I'll give him that tender, soft, and warm hug! It's time to greet him with open arms and an open heart."

 **Author's Note: … Goodnight Readers.**


	7. Profound Sadness

Profound Sadness

 **Author's Note: Attention Readers, this story has been a lot of fun for me to write and I'm not sure what to do next after this story is over. Maybe I'll write another story. Maybe I'll write a sequel. I don't have it all planned out yet but this story came off easier to write for me because of all the puzzle pieces Wayside School has built up. Putting all the pieces together is what lead this story to its creation. Anyways, let's move on to Todd.**

Thursday

After reading that last page, it was even harder to fall asleep. I've read romantic stories before, but none of them were about me. Most of the night was me thinking about how much Maurecia must love me. The other portion was sadness over the fact that she won't likely return until the week ends. The reason I left my old school was because of an accident I caused towards the kindergarteners, but I only left because I was ashamed. Now I'm even more ashamed. I got maybe three and a half hours of sleep at best due to this undying sadness. I don't know how to overcome said sadness now. She actually was going to hug me this Tuesday and now look what I've done. And what's worse is now I have to go back to school again today and the school now looks like the place I committed an act of violence with unpredictable impact in my eyes. It's nauseating. I notice Fluffy wakes up next to me.

"Eyaaaa… heh." He yawns while stretching his arms. It's nice to know that at least one of us slept well.

"Good morning Fluffy." I say tiredly. He looks up at me with a concerned frown. "Did you sleep well?" I ask. He nods a few times then points at me. "No Fluffy I didn't." He looks sorry for me and hugs my leg. "Thanks pal." I say as he caresses my lower leg. "I just couldn't stop thinking of Maurecia." Fluffy flinches for a second, and then he makes a loving smile.

" _Oh yeah!"_ I see him say. I truly cannot believe he likes this. Maurecia is the reason Fluffy used to hate me, but now he doesn't seem want us separated.

"Fluffy do you actually want me to get together with Maurecia?" His smile widens and then he nods quickly. I'm surprised. "You do? I find that hard to believe." He smiles and shrugs. "But why?"

" _Because you're nice."_ He mouths. _"And I can tell you care about her."_ I never thought I'd hear that from Fluffy of all people. He'd always try to get rid of me since we met, but now he approves of me? As a person that's one thing, but as Maurecia's boyfriend? He's really matured.

"Well Fluffy, I do care about Maurecia." I hear him sigh contently. "And if we're really lucky, she'll be at school when we get there!" He jumps with joy. "Let's go!" We exit the room and I leave my skateboard, and Maurecia's bag behind. I made myself a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Fluffy. He eats the first half for breakfast and the other one is for later. I proceed to fix myself a cheddar sausage and an egg. Then a while later I get on the bus, ride it, then approach the school. On my way in I see Louis.

"Hi Louis!" I wave.

"Oh hey Todd, hey Fluffy." He walks over to us looking a little nervous.

"So have you heard from the hospital yet?" He sighs.

"No Todd I haven't." Fluffy frowns in sadness. "They haven't called us yet."

"So she's still in a coma?" I ask.

"I'm afraid so Todd." This hurts me on an emotional level. "Have you decided you're going back to your old school or not?" It also hurts me to say this.

"It looks likely." Fluffy sniffles.

"Wow Todd. That's a real bummer. It looks like Fluffy doesn't want you to leave." I turn to Fluffy.

"I know." I say sadly. "But my dad told me he doesn't want me to be at a school where the teachers don't care about me." Louis frowns.

"Todd, don't say that. I'm sure Mrs. Jewls does care about you." He says. I roll my eyes.

"If I didn't have Fluffy with me I'd need to ride the kindergarten bus again." I say. "Mrs. Jewls ignores my presence until I get into trouble." I add.

"Well today Mrs. Jewls came in and she looked pretty depressed." I raise my head a little.

"Why is that? Did something happen to her?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. But she said she'd like to see you before school starts." I wonder what this is about.

"Oh really? Then I got to go!" I start running up the stairs. "Thanks Louis and goodbye!"

"Bye Todd. Good luck." He calls out as I get out of his sight. I make my way to the top floor not reducing my speed one time, I pass some of my classmates but I don't bother stopping to talk to any of them. When I'm about to enter Mrs. Jewls classroom I set my bag on the ground and tell Fluffy to get off of my shoulder. I don't think she wants to see him this morning.

"Good morning Mrs. Jewls." I say as I enter the room. She's crying quietly at her desk.

"Todd." She sniffles. "How are you this morning?" She asks. I honestly can't say for sure.

"Well, not very happy. I had a rough sleep and a depressing dream. But I'm still committed to coming to school and doing my best like always." She smiles as another tear falls down her face.

"That's a relief." She sniffles and cries for a few more seconds.

"Are you okay?" I ask. She looks up at me.

"Todd, I wanted to say thank you for saving me from Maurecia's enraged porcupine." She says. As much as I don't want to, I tell her the truth.

"Mrs. Jewls." I catch her attention. "Fluffy was with me all day yesterday and he's with me today to. He actually planned on attacking you if you tried to send me home early again." She looks shocked.

"He did?" I nod.

"But I wasn't aware of it until after it happened. And I'm sorry for the pain you had to endure." She smiles.

"It's okay Todd. Honesty is always important." She continues crying. I feel like she has something she's hiding.

"Seriously Mrs. Jewls, are you too sad to teach today? I'm sure we can find a substitute." She stops.

"Todd… I owe you an apology." She says and I flinch. I've waited a while for this. "I've never really been able to treat you like the other kids because you're… different." I raise an eyebrow.

"I am?" I ask. "Is it because you thought I was a monkey when I first joined the school?" She shakes her head.

"No Todd. I thought you were extremely cute." I'm flattered in a weird way. "I thought you were too cute to be one of my students." I smile awkwardly.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with me being different?" I ask.

"Because you're… normal. I've never taught a normal kid before and I didn't think I'd be a good enough teacher for you." I suppose that figures but it's not fully understandable. "You're much smarter than everyone else and sometimes I was worried you'd graduate too quickly." I'm so confused right now.

"Are you saying you liked having me in class?" I ask.

"Yes Todd I do, or did if you decide to leave the school. You're a quick learner and extreme strategist. I love teaching you students and I'm worried you wouldn't be here for very long." I'm truly surprised.

"You love our class?" She stops crying and nods.

"Yes Todd. You children are like a family to me." I didn't expect to hear that. "I was an only child who grew up with a single father who was super strict and always had something to do. He's an extremely hard worker and he chuckles at pain and the doubt of incredible responsibilities." I did meet her dad once and he seemed pretty badass. "But he didn't have a lot of time to spend with me when I was growing up. I always thought he wouldn't accept me as a daughter because I wasn't anything like him."

"You were worried he wasn't proud of you?" I ask.

"Yes Todd. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him because he was always looking for another task to complete. When I went to my school, I took any opportunity to be with my friends as I could. Then after my twelfth grade year, it was over. I missed my friends from school and still do. But my closest friend became my boyfriend and later, my husband." I've never heard her say talk about this.

"Is he nice?" I ask before she begins crying again.

"He was nice." She says. I know she's implying he died. "But one day he got into a horrible accident." I frown sadly.

"Do you want to talk about it? Do the other students know?" I ask trying to comfort her.

"No Todd, they don't. But it's a sad story. He was a very strong builder who would make houses for people. He always put in more effort than anyone I'd ever seen, excluding my dad. But two years ago in the summer, as he was climbing down the ladder, there was an earthquake. The force was so powerful he fell off the ladder and the ladder fell on top of his head. He went to the hospital and they were certain he'd wake up in a few days. But after about a week, his heart stopped, his brain bled out too much, and he passed away." I feel what feels like a sword being inserted into my heart. A very similar thing happened to Maurecia two days ago and it's because of me.

"Was his condition intracranial hemorrhage?" I ask. She sniffles.

"It was later epidural hematoma. But they thought it was intracranial hemorrhage until he was dead." I feel a tsunami of tears coming for me.

"But… Maurecia has that condition right now." I say with my voice breaking. She gets up.

"Todd. I hope it's not fatal." I begin crying.

"Me neither! But I've heard brain injuries are often more lethal than other conditions." I continue crying for a few seconds until suddenly, Mrs. Jewls hugs me. I quiet down a bit.

"Todd." She whispers. "It's alright." I hug her back.

"Are you sure?" I ask. "What if the same thing happens to Maurecia?" She sighs.

"It'll be a shame. But it's not your fault Todd." I disagree.

"Actually a lot of it is." I say. She squeezes me a little.

"Todd, you were just frustrated. And that feeling comes to everyone at some point. But you shouldn't feel bad." She says.

"I shouldn't?" I ask.

"No sweetie. You're a very good student here at Wayside and I enjoy having you in my class." I'm pretty surprised.

"Then why do you always send me home early?" I ask.

"Because I was worried you'd graduate when everyone else was in their sophomore year." She says. "You're very smart and very determined. You did every homework assignment through twelfth grade already. I felt if you stayed all day you'd learn too quickly and you'd leave us sooner." In all honesty I could qualify to attempt for college at my current age, it wasn't my plan from the beginning but maybe I could've pulled it off.

"Well Mrs. Jewls. It was never in my best interest to not live my full eighteen years in my house or experience my thirteen years of school. I'd miss out on so many things other students get to go through, like prom, senior night, and yearbook photos, and graduating with everyone I spent my class time with." I say. "And I really don't like the kindergarten bus because it's loud, obnoxious, and reminds me too much about why I left my old school." She stops hugging me.

"Well Todd, I won't send you home on that bus again if it really means that much to you." I smile.

"Thanks Mrs. Jewls." I say.

"But keep in mind that I'll miss you when you leave school after this week." I sigh.

"Why are you saying it now of all things?" I ask.

"Because I didn't think you'd understand before now. My husband died before your class came in and I immediately felt lonely. Why else do you think I taught this class your seventh grade year and now I'm doing it again for your eighth? It's because I wanted to see you all again and Kidswatter doesn't care who I teach." I suppose that does make sense.

"But Mrs. Jewls. Why am I so special compared to the other students? Why am I always the only one who goes home on the kindergarten bus?" She smiles lightly.

"Because you're a caring, loving, and responsible kid Todd. I knew you leaving at noon wouldn't hurt your education and, at first I was still feeling bad for myself at my husband's death and you were the new student I could discipline easily." I frown.

"No kidding."

"But later I realized how hard you work all the time and thought maybe the kindergarten kids would try to be more like you if they spent time with you. I see so much of my father in you Todd. Except you aren't strict at all. You try to be social and spend your time with everyone." I never thought I'd hear her say all this. "And I don't want you to leave the school either Todd. I've never had a student like you before and I'm not sure anyone else has. Wayside has improved really greatly since you showed up and it's still evolving." I guess I need to think it over.

"I'll take all this into consideration." I say. "But I now look at this school as the place I injured someone who I never believed actually cared about me. If Maurecia doesn't come back today then I don't think I'll be able to come back. It's too painful." She looks a little sad.

"I understand Todd. And I'm sorry I wasn't a better teacher while you were here. You've been an outstanding student and I'm truly proud of you." I hug her one more time. She hugs me back.

"Thanks Mrs. Jewls. I really appreciate it." I say.

"And thank you for helping me stay at the school when my dad tried taking me away. I know you can do better than him when you have a family one day. You'll make a wonderful father." This whole conversation made me rather sad but also proud. I never knew how much I meant to Mrs. Jewls or the rest of the school for that matter. About fifteen minutes later the class shows up and Maurecia still isn't here. I'm pretty disappointed she couldn't make it, but I need to try keeping my head up until it's all over. When class starts Mrs. Jewls stepped into the middle of the room.

"Can I please have everyone's attention?" She asks and the class looks up. "This may be our second to last day we'll have Todd in our class." Everyone turns toward me.

"Really Todd?" Myron asks. "Do you not like us anymore?" I lay my chin on my desk.

"It's not like that." I say. "This school is just becoming too painful for me."

"What parts?" Dana asks. "There are things we can change." I sigh and speak up.

"When this week began, all I wanted was a little change, but after a day of abuse and humiliation, I tried to force the change on my own." Some students look around in confusion.

"What kinds of change Todd?" John asks.

"I wanted to stop being sent home early each day." Some of them turn towards Mrs. Jewls.

"And this part is my fault." She says. "If you notice, I've never sent anyone else home on the kindergarten bus."

"How come?" Eric Ovens asks.

"Well students, Todd isn't just a student like the rest of you. He's an accomplished adult in a child's body." I look up. "And I didn't want him to overdo his success and graduate too soon." I feel I need to slow her down a bit.

"I'm flattered you think I'm smart, but I wouldn't call myself genius." I say.

"But don't you ace every single test?" Stephen asks.

"Yes he does." Mrs. Jewls responds. "And he does his assignments before they're given out." I roll my eyes.

"Anyone can do the things I do." I say.

"But no one actually does." Mrs. Jewls says. "And you have the potential to do so much more." This is getting a little embarrassing.

"Can we please go back to whatever lesson you had in mind for us?" I ask. She nods.

"Okay Todd. I just thought you deserved some appreciation. But we really should get started on studying for that history test we have later."

"Oh no! That's today?" Myron asks in a frightened tone. "I didn't study for it!"

"Uh… Myron." Mrs. Jewls taps his shoulder. "No one has and that's what we're doing next." He looks up with relief.

"Oh. Okay then!" He sits up. "Let's get to it!" I turn to Fluffy who's sitting inside my bag writing something.

"What do you have there?" I ask him. He shows me another image of me skateboarding. "Fluffy, I don't have my skateboard right now and you know it." He flips the paper over and I see a bus, a house that's labeled 'your house', and a building that looks like a hospital with a question mark on it. Arrows are drawn through each item. "Fluffy I don't know what you're getting at. But it's not very clear." He looks sad. "We can discuss this later." I say.

As Mrs. Jewls teaches her lesson, I can't focus. Normally it's easy for me to pay attention but I didn't sleep well last night and I still can't stop thinking about what Maurecia wrote in her diary… and the fact that I actually read it, but more because her intentions were pure and I never got to experience them. Honestly had that not happened and I hadn't punched her, I probably wouldn't want to leave the school. I told her she needed a more attractive approach and she was getting there. And it came down to her realizing failure to get me to fall in love with her was actually likely, but she didn't give up. She just wanted me to be there for her at the school for the rest of our school years. I can't stop thinking about it. It's leaving me in a state of unbearable depression. If I went back to my old school, it'd be easier to get over this. The thought of coming here and never seeing Maurecia again is too much for me to live with. And yes she could come back, but what if she has memory issues? What if she doesn't remember anyone? She could have permanent brain damage! We get to our lunch hour and I'm sitting alone at a table with Fluffy next to me. We're both eating our sandwiches. Suddenly Dana walks up to me.

"Hey Todd." She greets me. This time I look back at her but I don't respond verbally. "May I join you?" She asks. I give her a thumbs up and tap the seat to the left of me. "Thank you." She says as she sits down. "So what's on your mind?" She asks.

"Crippling depression." I mumble. She looks sorry for me.

"Why Todd?" She asks. I look up.

"Did Mrs. Jewls ever tell any of you what happened to her husband?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"No Todd. She never said anything about him. Is he dying?" She asked worryingly.

"No Dana, he is dead." I say sadly. She sighs.

"That's too bad. Mrs. Jewls must've been really heartbroken." She says. I raise an eyebrow.

"But do you know what killed him?" She shakes her head again.

"I have no clue."

"Intracranial hemorrhage. The same thing Mauercia has." She gasps and Fluffy coughs on his sandwich. He catches his food and manages to swallow it though, but then he looks up at me.

"He died of the same injury?" She asked.

"Well actually he died of epidural hematoma. Too much blood was lost from his head and eventually he died from it." I say with sadness. "But the doctors thought he had intracranial hemorrhage." Dana and Fluffy's eyes widened.

"Todd, how did her husband get the injury?" She asks.

"He was standing on a ladder during an earthquake and then he lost his grip, then the ladder fell onto his forehead." She gasps.

"And he died of cranial bleeding?" She asks sounding really scared. I nod.

"Yeah Dana, he did. But unlike Maurecia he died of a natural cause. If she died it would be considered a murder by me." Luckily Dana's intellectual grin came back.

"Todd, you should check on her." I look up quickly.

"How?" Fluffy shrugs in her direction.

"You need to get to the hospital to make sure she's okay… that is if you care about her." Fluffy turns back to me.

"Well Dana, I'd miss out on that history quiz we have later." I say as I peel my cheese stick. "I don't want to miss a test." I say as a begin chewing the cheese.

"Well Todd, you didn't look like you were paying attention in class earlier." She's not wrong here. "Is something distracting you?" I respond quickly.

"No, I'm a straight A student and tests come off as easily successful to me no matter how much or little I study in advance." She smirks. But she's right. I haven't been able to focus after reading her writing and learning how critical her condition could be.

"Well then good luck on the quiz." She says as she walks out. I pack up my plastic wrap and my empty applesauce container I let Fluffy absorb.

"Let's get back to class." I say. Fluffy clings onto my shoulder and we get back to the classroom, for about ten minutes everyone is reviewing while I sit there with a straight face, a sad one. I still really can't stop thinking about what Maurecia wrote about me. It's in my memory now and won't leave. And it isn't until Mrs. Jewls begins handing them all out until she notices either.

"Todd." I look up. "Are you alright?" She asks. I shrug.

"I don't know Mrs. Jewls. I'm not really in the mood to take a test today." I mumble. She seems okay with that.

"Well Todd, do you need more time to study or would you rather take it tomorrow?" She asks and I sigh audibly.

"I'm just really stressed out, that's all." Everyone is staring at me again.

"Why are you stressed Todd?" Eric Fry asks.

"Yeah brother Todd. What's the problem?" Jenny adds. I sigh again.

"I just can't focus today, something unforgettable has been on my mind all morning." The students look around at each other for a few seconds.

"What is on your mind Todd?" Myron asks. I'm about to say it.

"Do you guys want to know?" I ask and I hear multiple voices saying 'yeah Todd,' 'tell us,' and 'what is it?' "Okay…" I pause then point at Maurecia's empty desk. "I really miss Maurecia." Everyone falls silent for a few seconds until Dana speaks up.

"Todd. Are you in love with her?" I figured she'd ask me that sooner or later.

"Well… maybe?" I shrug. There is some sudden chatter. "But I'm not sure!" I say out loud. Mrs. Jewls turns back to me.

"Todd, is Maurecia's absence becoming too much for you?"

"Well… yes. Not having her at Wayside has greatly reduced the school's inner spirit this week, I thought I wanted everything here to change but I just couldn't restrain myself at the one moment that mattered. But my dad wants my final decision tonight and I don't want to come back to this school if Maurecia's not here. It doesn't feel right." I say. There is a little silence.

"You need to see her Todd!" Dana exclaims. "You need to visit her in the hospital!" I roll my eyes.

"I would but I'll never make it there in time. My parents don't want me out of the house after four thirty without adult supervision." Myron raises his hand. "Do you have a question Myron?" I ask.

"Yeah. Why four thirty of all times?"

"They're worried that since I don't have a car I could get kidnapped or pickpocketed. Most people work until four and then between four thirty and nine, city traffic gets large. So I can't make it since my mom took my skateboard away today." Mrs. Jewls pats me on the shoulder.

"Would you like it if I sent you home on the kindergarten bus today? That way you'll make it home by twelve fifteen?" A sudden smile appears on my face.

"Really? What about my test?" I ask.

"Forget the test Todd, this is third grade level for students like you. Just go visit your injured friend. She could use your company." I grab my bag.

"Okay! Thank you, let's go Fluffy!" He jumps on my shoulder. I hear some sudden cheering.

"Do it Todd!" Joe shouts.

"Go to her Brother Todd!" Jenny says cheerfully. I walk by Myron.

"Way to be a leader buddy." He pats my back. I feel John touch my ankle.

"Go get her pal." He says. As I'm about to step out I make eye contact with Dana.

"I'm proud of you Todd. I knew you had it in you." She says as I step out of the room.

"Well class, Todd is a wonderful student and you all like having him here don't you?" Everyone nods. "I hope he decides this is the school for him by tomorrow."

After I step out, I stand still for a few seconds. Then I whisper something to Fluffy. He jumps out with excitement.

"Should I tell them?" I ask and he nods rapidly. I step back into the classroom for a second. "I'm staying at Wayside!" I shout. Everyone cheers for a few seconds including Mrs. Jewls. I feel so appreciated and loved.

"Good luck Todd!" Mrs. Jewls shouts as I head towards the stairs.

 **Author's Note: Well that was a fun way to end the chapter. Todd has confirmed his choice to stay at Wayside school until his graduation, but there's still one person who doesn't know yet. One more void to fill before this story ends. Thank you all and Goodnight.**


	8. Against All the Odds

Against All The Odds

 **Author's Note: Attention Readers. This is story is almost over, most of you probably predicted that, but here we go, I should say I've been looking forward to this chapter since I started writing the fanfic. So without further ado, let's get back to Todd.**

Within the next half hour, I ran all the way to the bottom of the stairs and rode the kindergarten bus home. I get into my house and see my mom doing her work.

"Hi sweetie." She says.

"Hi mom." I say quickly. "I need to go to the hospital." I say as I grab a helmet and some pads. She closes her computer lid, quickly realizing I'm not the one hurt.

"Whoa Todd. I have a meeting in about an hour." I roll my eyes. "I don't have time to drive you to the hospital." She says.

"But mom, I need to see Maurecia. I haven't seen her since Tuesday morning and I have to make sure she's okay." She sets her laptop aside.

"Todd, I'm sure she's okay if she's healing."

"But I need to check on her." I say adamantly. "I just need my skateboard." She frowns.

"I thought I told you not today." I'm a little annoyed.

"You said I couldn't take it to school." I say as I pick the board up. "You said I'd get it back when I got home."

"Todd. I'm hardly comfortable with you riding it to school. Do you think I'm comfortable with you riding it into the city?" I shrug.

"I promise I'll stay cautious and wait for stop lights." I say. "Please mom." Fluffy gets into a prayerful position.

"Todd…" She sighs. "Why does it mean this much to you?" If she wants to know everything she'll be late for her meeting.

"Because mom, last night I read a piece of her diary and-" I'm interrupted.

"Shame on you Todd! That wasn't written for you to read." I sigh and continue.

"I only read Monday and Tuesday. She said that she was very worried I'd leave the school and she needed a way to keep me here, then she promised not to punch me again and hug me instead. Since I didn't know at the time or believe it for that matter, I punched her to protect myself. But it ended up hurting her way more than I hoped it would. But it hurts me even more not getting to see her each day. I need to see her again just for some reassurance. It really does matter to me." Fluffy cries a tear, my mom looks really surprised.

"You really are sorry aren't you?" She asks as I nod.

"Yeah mom and I finally heard my teacher say she loves teaching everyone because her husband died. We're like her children and she said I remind her of her father." She folds her arms.

"What's your point?"

"I've decided I'm going to stay at Wayside until my graduation." I say proudly. "But I don't want to go back if Maurecia isn't there. I really miss her." She smiles.

"Well Todd… you've really come of age." I smile.

"Thanks mom." I say as I hold my arms out. "Can I please have a hug?" I ask.

"Of course sweetie." She hugs me and gently strokes my neck. "I love you Todd."

"I love you to mom." I hear Fluffy purr. "And I do my best to be a good son." The hug ends.

"You're an exceptional son Todd and I'm very proud to be your mother." She says proudly.

"And I'm proud to be your son." I say. "But may I please go to the hospital? I know where it is." She pats my back.

"You may."

"Yes!" I throw a fist into the air. "Thanks mom!" I shout as I open the door and set the board down.

"Stay safe." She says.

"I will!" I head out and flip the board three sixty degrees. Fluffy cheers on my shoulder. "Hang on tight Fluffy! It's gonna be a wild ride!" I cheer as he gets a tighter grip. We head through the city streets, staying on the sidewalk unless we needed to cross. After about fifteen minutes we appear at the hospital. I never actually took off my backpack so Fluffy could hide if needed. When we're just outside the hospital doors I open the pack.

"Okay Fluffy, you'll need to get in the bag." He looks sad all of a sudden.

" _Do I have to?"_ He mouths and I nod.

"I'm afraid so. Just get in and try not to move too much." He sighs, hops into the back and then folds the flap forward so he's out of sight. I walk into the building confidently until I get to the receptionist. She looks like she's in her mid-twenties. "Hello Ma'am." I greet her politely.

"Hello young man." She says back. Then she looks over my shoulders. "Um, are you here all by yourself?" She asks.

"Well yes. My mom has a meeting to get to so I had to come alone." She frowns in a sympathetic way.

"I'm sorry young man, but I'm not allowed to let children in this hospital if they're not supervised by an adult." I hear Fluffy growl quietly so I lean forward so the bag bumps my back to shut him up.

"Is there any chance you could get a nurse or something to supervise me for a few minutes?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I'm afraid that's not the hospital policy." I frown half sadly, half angrily.

"Ma'am, I worked really hard to make my way here." She looks a little concerned.

"Are you sick or hurt?" She asks.

"No I'm not. But someone I care about is and I'm not leaving until I get to see her." I say with determination. Unfortunately it fails.

"Look buddy, unless a child is sick or hurt they need an adult inside this building, so my best suggestion for you is to sit over there on one of those seats and call your mom or dad." I'm losing my patience.

"But they're both busy right now. Please miss, I've had a lot of stress this week." She sighs in annoyance.

"You'll only stress yourself out more if you stay here. I really do think you should leave." I make a fist but I don't show it.

"Has someone you cared about ever gotten hurt?" I ask.

"Yes, they have." She responds.

"And did you ever let your age stop you from getting to see them?"

"No because I always had a parent with me." I point my thumb at myself.

"Well I'm a very independent person who doesn't always rely on my parents. I've gone above and beyond in school and I could probably easily take the job you have right now in only four years." She glares at me. "How old are you?"

"Twenty six." She says sternly. "And I'm guessing you're fourteen?" I nod. "But regardless of your intellect you still can't come in alone."

"You can't make one generous exception for a sad and desperate boy?" I ask. I can tell we're both heated up.

"Maybe but I'm not very eager to do it right now." My glare disappears. "Now please leave." I sigh.

"Well then, thanks for nothing lady!" She scoffs as I turn around and walk firmly away. I still face her direction until I bump into someone. "Oh!" I flinch and notice a large, middle-age, man dressed in a suit and tie. He looks really fit for his age and is honestly kinda intimidating. "I'm so sorry sir." I say.

"That's alright son." He says. "I could've payed a little more attention myself." I smile lightly. I also feel Fluffy moving around again so I bump the bag forward on my shoulders again to signal him to stop. The man looks a little curious.

"Son, why do you have your backpack on?" I pause for a second.

"Well I just got home and was kinda in a hurry to get here."

"I see." He says. He has a very deep voice.

"But I gotta go now. It doesn't look like I'm allowed here." As I'm about to walk out he puts his hand on my shoulder. I stop in my tracks.

"Did see who you came here for?" He asks. I shake my head.

"No sir I didn't. That lady won't let me in without an adult." He pauses.

"Oh I see." He says as I sigh. I notice a humble smile appears on his face. "I'll supervise you for a few minutes." I look up immediately.

"Really? Are you sure?" I ask.

"Sure thing son, I came to see someone to and it's not fair to send you out just because you're young." I look up at him. "And you had to come here with a backpack?" He asks.

"Well it's not very heavy. But sometimes my shoulders get sore from carrying it." They get sore because they get punched a lot.

"Hm. I understand, but if you really want to see someone I'll walk you in." I'm no longer afraid to look into his eyes.

"Okay. Thank you very much." I say as I walk in front with him following me.

"Allow me to hold your skateboard." I hand it to him then we get back to the receptionist.

"What do you want now kid?" She asks looking annoyed. The man speaks up.

"He's with me." He says as he puts his right hand on my left shoulder. The lady raises an eyebrow.

"Is he your son because he's got an attitude?" I glare upon hearing that sentence. Suddenly the man smirks.

"He's not my son." He says humbly. "Though if you were my daughter, I'd have an attitude." She gasps and looks down at me. I cross my arms with a satisfied grin. She glares back at him.

"If you're not his dad then I can't let you in." He raises an eyebrow a glares into her soul.

"Listen young lady." She gasps. "This boy has come a long way to make it here. And god knows who he's trying to see, but I'm willing to take him with me so I suggest you let us in." She frowns.

"Do you two even know each other?" She asks.

"No we don't, but I know who I'm seeing and he knows who he came to see, so if you don't mind, I'm a very busy man who's taking time out of his job to make it here and this young man will probably have to take a test or accept additional homework to get out of school. If anyone needs a supervisor, it's probably you." She gasps again. "Should I talk to your manager?"

"That won't be necessary. Please go right in." She says defeated.

"Thank you." I say with satisfaction as we walk by. We head inside the elevator. "And thank you very much for helping me get past her." He smiles lightly.

"My pleasure." He points at the buttons. "Which floor are you going to?" I shrug.

"I'm not really sure. This is my first time here since the incident happened." He sighs and presses 7.

"Well I'm going to the seventh floor." The doors close. He holds out his left arm. "My name is Jerome by the way. I'm here to check on my daughter." I shake his hand.

"Oh that's nice. I'm Todd." I say, suddenly he flinches.

"Your name is Todd?" He asks and I nod.

"Yes sir it is." He pauses for a second and stares at his hand.

"Interesting. I'm always hearing stories about a boy named Todd." I look up.

"Who tells you them?" I ask. He clears his throat.

"My daughter Maurecia." I flinch within the very next microsecond and I swear my heart stopped. This is her father? I'm actually pretty terrified now.

"Mau-Maurecia?" I stammer to ask. He nods.

"Would you happen to be that very same Todd from Wayside school?" He asks while grinning.

"Y-Yes." I shiver a tiny bit. The door opens and we step off the elevator and walk down the hall.

"That's pretty neat. I'm finally getting to meet the boy my daughter moons over." He gives a hardy laugh. "So Todd what do you think of my Maurecia?" I sweat a little.

"She's very… cute." I say nervously. He chuckles.

"I'm glad you think so. So who are you here to see?" I freeze. "Uh… Todd? Are you alright?" He asks me looking concerned. I finally break free of my emotional paralysis.

"Sir, I'm-"

"You can call me Jerome, son." He interrupts.

"O-Okay. Jerome…" He raises an eyebrow. "I'm the one who punched your daughter!" I close my eyes tightly. I hear him sigh.

"You did?" He sounds disappointed. I only nod. "May I ask why you hit her?" He asks as I open my eyes.

"I thought she was going to punch me so I retaliated. Though the stair part wouldn't have happened if she was wearing shoes." He sighs in disappointment.

"I kept telling her skates weren't very safe." He says. Suddenly Fluffy pops out of my bag and jumps into my hands.

"Fluffy, what are you up to?" I ask.

"Isn't that her pet porcupine?" He asks, Fluffy nods and waves.

"Yes sir. I've taken care of him since yesterday. He's actually a very sweet friend." Fluffy turns around and gives me a heartwarming smile, and then he hugs my chest. Jerome looks a little pleased but also a little sad.

"Todd, I told her to stop punching you and I thought she would've listened." He says as we get to her room. "I guess she just couldn't help herself."

"No sir. I couldn't help myself. I thought she'd punch me again and I tried to stop her." He sighs in disappointment and opens the door.

"I understand Todd." I look down. "Actually should we look around for your person first or would you mind stopping here first?" I look back up.

"Actually Jerome, I came to see Maurecia to." He lets the door close.

"You did?" I nod. Suddenly I see him cry a tear. "You came all this way on your own to make sure my daughter was okay?"

"Yes sir I did. I didn't want to go back to school not knowing how she was doing. I really miss having her in class." He smiles.

"Thank you Todd, you're a good man." I still have my head down.

"I am? Doesn't punching her make me naughty or even a little sadistic?" He shakes his head.

"No son. Sadists don't show any concern over people they hurt." He pats my shoulder again. "Thank you Todd."

"You're welcome." I mumble. He opens the door again and holds it.

"Shall we see her now?" I look up and nod.

"Yes we should." I say. Fluffy pats my cheek a few times and then we enter.

I notice Maurecia is lying on a large white bed with white sheets and blankets and there is a heart monitor attached to her pulse. I can't help but notice she's not wearing her helmet. She has her blueish purple hair down and it's much longer than her usual ponytail. Dare I say she looks… hot? Who am I kidding? She looks so gorgeous! Jerome finally speaks up.

"Well Todd, here she is." He says quietly. I turn towards him.

"I'm so sorry this happened!" I say pretty loudly feeling more tears coming. Fluffy caresses my left cheek. "I really wish I could go back in time and undo this. But it's too late." I calm down. "What's done is done." Jerome sighs.

"I know Todd." He says in a rather sad tone. "I've said long and heartfelt prayers the past couple of nights for her. She's my baby girl and she means my whole world." Tears finally leave my eyes slowly.

"I understand." I say in a broken voice and I sniffle. "And I- And I don't like going to Wayside with- without her!" I hiccupped twice on that sentence. Jerome gently strokes my back.

"It's alright Todd. I'm not mad at you." First Fluffy and now her dad? Even if it's illegal I thought he'd at least want to slap me.

"Are you sure?" I ask, making direct eye contact but I'm barely able to see him because these tears are making my vision blurry.

"I am Todd. I know you were scared and it's a shame this happened. But I know you mean well." He turns back to her. "And honestly you're a boy I'd trust my daughter with." I'm astonished.

"I am?" He nods.

"You're not one of those idiots who plays and cheat on girls or cheats on tests. From what I'm told you're a freakishly hard worker who gets straight A's and still doesn't care about free time unless everyone around you is happy." I'm surprised he knows all this. I thought Maurecia would just say I'm cute and stop there. But maybe she wanted to tell her dad all of this to get his approval.

"That does sound like me." I say as my crying slows down. He sighs one more time and holds his head down for about a minute. I don't interrupt but I do stare. He doesn't make a single sound during this minute.

"Okay." He looks back up. "I'm done."

"What happened?" I ask.

"I was saying a prayer for her. I hope God is willing to protect my Maurecia and she'll get through this. But odds are she'll be asleep until Sunday at best. The doctors predicted her coma will last a few more days." I sigh.

"I don't want to go back tomorrow and not see her there." Jerome looks at me.

"Well son, I heard you might be leaving Wayside and returning to your old school. So really it's only for one more day."

"Actually today I made my final decision. I'm not leaving." He smiles lightly.

"Oh really? My daughter will be so relieved when she wakes up." He says confidently only for me to speak up.

"If she wakes up sir." I correct him and he's silent. "Mrs. Jewls said her husband suffered the same injury, they thought he'd be awake next week but he ended up dying. He had epidural hematoma but they thought it was intracranial hemorrhage." His voice breaks slightly.

"Are you sure?" He asks. I only nod. "That's so sad!"

"I know." I mumble as he turns back to Maurecia.

"My poor baby!" He suddenly begins crying. Fluffy lets out a sad purr. I feel so ashamed.

"Jerome, I couldn't stop thinking about Maurecia this week. I only had about three and a half hours of sleep last night because I found out about her feelings." He turns towards me.

"How'd you find her feelings?" I sigh.

"I read her diary." I slow down a little. "Only Monday and Tuesday though. She said you told her to hug me instead of punching me." He nods.

"Yeah Todd, I wanted her to comfort you." I look down.

"I could've used the comfort. I am sorry this happened, and I'll never forgive myself for this." I sniffle. "But I need to speak to her." We make eye contact.

"Alone?" He asks, halting his tears. I nod.

"Yes sir." I say quietly. "Could I have a little time alone with her please?" He smiles lightly.

"Alright son. Please be careful with my daughter." Fluffy jumps off of my shoulder.

"Fluffy? You to?" He nods. "You don't want to stay here?" He shakes his head then points at me. "You're right. I have to do this alone." I hold him out. "Here sir." Fluffy holds his hand out for a second then turns toward me. "What's up Fluffy?" He pauses, looks back at me, then he crawls up to my head and hugs my face. I feel his soft fur tickle my nose.

"Awe. That's pretty adorable." Jerome says. Fluffy then let go and stares into my eyes. He's smiling proudly and a tear falls out of his left eye. "I think he loves you." Jerome says and I smile.

"I love him to." I say as he pats my forehead twice. He's officially my best friend now. After about five more seconds he crawls back down and I hand him back. "Here." I say as he jumps out of my hands and into Jerome's.

"You did a wonderful job taking care of him Todd." He says. "I'll be in the lobby until you're done." He says as he walks out.

"Okay sir, I'll see you in a little while." I turn back to Maurecia. She's still asleep but the heart monitor doesn't lie, she's still alive. That's the only bit of relief I truly have right now. I step up to the right side of her bed and kneel. I'm about to pray for her. She deserves a few words said on her behalf… and I think I owe her them. There were many times she's tried getting my attention and I simply ignored her, sometimes blanking her out of my vision like she didn't exist. But ever since she got injured she hasn't left my conscience. I grab her right hand. I know she always wants to hold hands, since she's in the hospital it'd be wrong to deprive her of it now. "Okay." I clear my throat and take another look at her. I notice she has a small bruise on her forehead from where my fist hit her. Then I finally begin.

"Maurecia… I don't think you can hear me right now but a small part of you hopefully can. I'm so sorry I punched you. I wish there wasn't a staircase behind you and if I could go back to the moment I hit you I would've stopped myself. I would've chopped off my own hand if I'd known this could've been avoided. It's been a very painful week for me and I've lost a lot of sleep the past couple of nights thinking and worrying about you. But I've made my final decision, the decision to stay at Wayside until my graduation." I feel more tears coming but do my best to fight them.

"But it hasn't been the same without you. I thought your presence in my life gave me nothing but constant pain in my shoulders, but your absence is even more painful to me." I stop for a minute and listen to the sound of her breathing. She's really cute when she's asleep. Then I move on.

"Not having you at school has been much worse than getting punched every day. And I know you probably won't wake up until next week but…" I open my eyes and see her still lying motionlessly. My voice begins cracking.

"But please don't leave my life. I don't want you to die. You didn't deserve this fate and I want you to overcome this coma." A few more tears fall down my cheeks. I continue.

"So… even if you don't wake up this week, or even next week, please come back to me as soon as you can. I'm not ready to go back to Wayside tomorrow without you, but knowing you're alive and breathing will give me the strength to endure your absence further." I open my eyes and stare at her for a few more seconds.

"So… take care." I sniffle. I'm still holding her hand. This is the longest I've ever held anyone's hand. I take one more look at her beautiful face and feel a rush of unfamiliar emotional energy. "I'll see you soon." I say as I lean forward, and plant a gentle kiss on her bruised forehead.

"Goodbye." I look around for a few more seconds and then close my eyes. Then just before I'm about to get up and leave I feel my hand move slightly, except I didn't move it. "What?" I say as I feel Maurecia squeeze my hand lightly. I gasp audibly as she rolls around a couple of times and releases a quiet yawn. My eyes open and widen instantly.

"Oh." She says weakly as she slowly opens her eyes. "My head." This is all too good to be true!

"Maurecia!" I exclaim. "You're awake!" She lifts her head up lightly.

"T-Todd? Is that you?" She asks as she regains her vision.

"Yes Maurecia. It is me!" I exclaim happily. "And you're not unconscious anymore!" She moves very slowly.

"Todd. What happened? Where am I?" She asked in a drowsy tone. I can tell she's still really exhausted.

"Well, what do you remember?" I ask concerned.

"The last thing I remember was I was on the thirtieth floor and you were right in front of me, then I'm guessing someone hit a baseball or something that hit me in the head." A baseball? I didn't think I could hit that hard.

"No Maurecia, I punched you." I say depressed. Her eyes shoot open and her usual energetic spirit comes back.

"You did?" I nod. "Todd, you punched my forehead while I was on my rollerblades?" I nod sadly.

"Yes Maurecia. You rolled down the stairs and crashed head first into the wall." I say in a sad tone. "But after that I carried you down all the stairs." Her eyes widen.

"You did?" I nod. "You carried me down all thirty floors to help escort me to the hospital faster?"

"Yeah Maurecia I did." She notices I'm holding her hand.

"Oh Todd! Thank you!" Her face lights up. Mine however is still very dim.

"You're welcome Maurecia, but I had a rough week knowing you could've easily died from this injury." She pauses.

"I could've died?" I nod and let go of her hand.

"So, I want you to punch me again. Punch me as hard as you can." I say under self-spite.

"But Todd I don't-" I cut her off.

"No Maurecia! I deserve it." I open my eyes for a second. "I won't even flinch this time. Just go and resume the moment before I punched you." I close my eyes again. I'm waiting for her to break my shoulders… "Whoa!" But instead, out of nowhere, she pulls me into her chest and has her arms around the back of my head.

"You're my hero." She whispers. My smile reflexively reappears on my face.

"I am?"

"You are!" I wrap my arms around her back and begin hugging her to. "And I'm sorry I felt the need to punch you all this time. But I forgive you for what you did."

"That's nice." I chuckle a couple of times before lifting my head up. She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen and the gentlest touch I've ever felt. We stare into each other's eyes for a few seconds.

"I love you Todd." She says. Then she continues to hug my head.

"Hey Maurecia." She loosens her grip and looks down at me.

"Yes Todd?" I feel my heart flutter.

"I love you to." I say sincerely and a joyful tear rolls down her face.

"Oh Todd! Do you really mean it?" I nod.

"Yes I do Maurecia."

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that!" She strokes my back a few times.

"And you don't know how long I've been waiting to say that myself." She drops me.

"Todd, you've loved me from the beginning?" I nod.

"Yes Maurecia, I have. I just didn't know it at the time." She smiles.

"Awe, you're so cute!" She squeezes me so tightly she almost chokes me.

"Uh Maurecia."

"Yes Todd?"

"Could I reposition myself real fast?" She lets go.

"Ooh. Sorry." She apologizes.

"That's alright." I say as I adjust to head level. Then I move back in and hug her again. "And I did learn a couple of things about you." She flinches.

"Did you read my diary?" I pause.

"Fluffy told me to." I say nervously and I notice she's glaring at me intensely. "I'm sorry." Suddenly she squeezes me again.

"I'm just kidding Todd! I still love you." She opens her right eye. "But which parts did you read?" She asks.

"Not much, I remember you calling me Romeo." She blushes deeply and I hear a redundant beeping noise. I turn left and notice the heart monitor. "I forgot that thing was on."

"Me to." She says as she rips the wires off of her chest. Then she turns back to me.

"So you think I'm extremely cute and have a funny feeling when around me huh?" Her face changes its shade of pink each second.

"Well Todd, yes I kinda do get that feeling." She looks around having a hard time making eye contact with me. "Is that weird?" She asks. I smirk.

"Actually I find it pretty adorable." She giggles.

"You do Todd?" I nod.

"Yes Maurecia I do." I chuckle a couple of times. "What does it feel like?" I ask and she shrugs.

"It's hard to explain but it feels good… in an embarrassing kind of way." She says nervously. I raise an eyebrow.

"Well this 'funny feeling' has caused my arm so much pain over the past year in a half."

"Well Todd, I don't think that-" I interrupt.

"You'd punch me because you got this feeling whenever I was around and you were too nervous to tell me." She's defeated.

"Yes Todd I was." She sighs. "I thought you'd think I was too desperate if I got affectionate around you." I grin.

"Except when we were in the trash compactor?" She shrugs.

"I thought we were both going to die." She says. "I thought it didn't matter anymore."

"Interesting." I say grinning. "Maybe we need to get used to this funny feeling." She blushes.

"How Todd?" She asks looking nervous. I place my hand on her neck, she feels slightly feverish.

"Hm." I move close her face and I feel her temperature rise.

"What are you doing Todd?" She asks. I hold our heads closer together. Her face is bright pink.

"Relax Maurecia. I'm just helping you get used to having me next to you without you needing to hurt me." She chuckles nervously. "Now, are you ready for the last part?" I say with a seductive grin.

"Um, I don't know Todd. What is there to-" I pull her face in and give her a powerful kiss on her lips. Her eyes shut after a second and I feel her kissing me back. After about ten seconds I stop.

"How'd that feel?" I ask a little exhausted. She takes a few seconds to catch her breath.

"It felt amazing." She says while panting. I sit next to her and put my arm on her shoulder.

"One more question Maurecia." She faces me. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Her eyes sparkle.

"Oh Todd! Of course I will!" She hugs me again and I participate. "You're the sweetest boy I've ever met." I chuckle.

"And you're the sweetest girl I've ever met." I say. The hug ends, then about two seconds later she pulls me in for another kiss, I can't protest. My heart is pounding very intensely right now and I'm sure hers is to. After about fifteen seconds we stop. Both of us are out of breath.

"So, how was that?" She asks me while panting.

"It was, very, sensational." I respond panting equally as her. After about thirty seconds we finally catch our breaths. "I've never kissed anyone like that before."

"Neither have I Todd." She says as she strokes my shoulders. "But I didn't know it'd be that much fun. We should kiss more often!" This time I can't disagree.

"Okay we will." I say while chuckling a couple of times. "But now that you're okay we should probably get out of here." She nods.

"Okay Todd, I just need to get my skates on. Do you know where they are?" I get up and look around a little.

"I think your dad took them with him." She rolls her eyes.

"He's always telling me skates are dangerous and I shouldn't wear them in public. And I don't want to walk around downstairs without footwear." I notice she only has socks on. I sigh contently for a second.

"Do you want me to carry you down?" I ask. The idea seems pretty unexpected and a little embarrassing, but if we love each other so what have I got to lose?

"Are you sure Todd? Won't I weigh you down?" She asks. I grin.

"If I can carry you down twenty nine staircases, then I'm sure I can carry you in an elevator." She gets into my arms in bridal style.

"You really are a true romantic Todd." She kisses my left cheek and I blush.

"Thanks Maurecia." She giggles. "Well, let's go." As I step out of the room she wraps her arms around my neck.

"Did I ever tell you how much I admire you?" She asks and I shake my head.

"No, I think you skipped that part."

"Well I've always admired how hard you work no matter what the task is." I smile proudly.

"Thank you." She continues.

"And how you always go out of your way for others, it's incredible how much or your potential you use." I blush again.

"Thanks." I say as I step onto the elevator. Maurecia hits the ground floor button. The elevator ride is pretty quiet until she speaks up again.

"I love you Todd." She says as she gives me a heartwarming smile. I return the same face.

"And I love you Maurecia." I say as then the elevator dings and the doors open. I step out and across the room I see Jerome sitting down and petting Fluffy.

"Hi Daddy!" Maurecia exclaims and he raises his head extremely quickly.

"Darling?" I walk up to him with Maurecia in my arms.

"Here's your daughter." I say as Fluffy jumps onto her chest.

"Oh hi Fluffy. Did you miss me?" She asks and he nods repeatedly and he looks ready to cry. Then he looks up at me. "What did Todd do?" She asks him. I smile.

"Fluffy and I are friends now." I say and he pats me on the stomach. "We've had each other's backs since yesterday morning." Jerome pats my shoulder.

"Todd." He pauses. "How did you wake my little girl up from her coma?" I shrug.

"He confessed his feelings for me." She says. "From the distant world I was in during my painful nap, I heard his voice." She pulls me closer to her face. "An everlasting flame inside my heart for Todd refused to die out!" I blush again.

"Maurecia, not in front of your dad." I say feeling a little embarrassed. "Not in front of Fluffy." Fluffy stands there with his arms crossed like he's waiting for something.

"Who cares?" She asks. "The bond you and I have overpowers anything else." She pulls me to kiss me on the cheek again. I just let it happen, though my entire face is bright pink right now.

"EYEEH!" Fluffy cheers and raises his fist.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Jerome laughs in a hearty manner. I chuckle a couple of times before she stops.

"I've always wanted my dad to meet you." She says while caressing my shoulder.

"He's a pretty good boy." Jerome says. "You did not cheat yourself when choosing him." I'm pretty flattered to hear that. Then Jerome pulls out his car keys. "Hey Todd, it's only twelve fifty. Would you like a ride home?"

"Yes please." I say. Maurecia hugs my shoulder again.

"I guess we'll have a little more time together." She says blushing.

"I guess so." I respond. A few minutes later we're in her dad's car and he's driving us back. We're both sitting in the back seat holding hands and Fluffy is in Maurecia's lap.

"So Todd?" Jerome asks. "When did you develop feelings for my daughter?"

"Well sir, it's kinda hard to say. It was early last year when we first met and it clearly took some time to get used to her. But it was only last night I realized how pure she was and she became the center of my conscience. I didn't know it at the time but I now realize I was in love." Maurecia just stares at me with a loving smile.

"See dad. I told you he was a true romantic." She says. Jerome chuckles.

"I see. And what do you like best about her?" He asks.

"I like how energetic she always is. Most of the time I can't even keep up with her and that's pretty hot to me." Fluffy purrs and gives me a cool guy grin. "But whenever she's around me she fights hard for my attention and now I doubt I'll ever consider ignoring her again." She strokes my shoulder.

"And I promise I won't ever punch you again Todd. You do have some very strong arms and there's no doubt they've gone through so much." I chuckle nervously. "But now they won't need to worry anymore since they've supported me when my life was at stake." Jerome seems confused.

"What do you mean darling?"

"I mean after I hit the wall, Todd carried me to the bottom floor so I could get to the hospital faster." We make eye contact and her eyes are sparkling. "No one else I've ever met would've even thought of that. But Todd is a very special person. He's not one of those people who puts themselves first, but the people around him." I blush. "And that is my favorite thing about you Todd. That is the main reason I love you, because you care so much about everyone else. But it is I who cares most about you. I hold you very dear to my heart and I always have." A single tear leaves my left eye.

"Wow." Jerome says.

"Do you really mean all of that Maurecia?" I ask. She nods and winks.

"When have I ever lied to you Todd?" That's very true, she hasn't.

"That's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me." I say as joyful tears flood my eyes.

"Well you're the most beautiful blessing I've ever had in my life." She says with a content loving face. Jerome suddenly stops the car.

"Well Todd, is this your house?" He asks. We're at 344 South Fairview.

"Yes sir it is." I unbuckle my seatbelt. "Thanks for the ride." I'm about to step out but Maurecia pulls me to her. I'm about two and a half inches from her face.

"Have a nice night Todd." She says. "I'll look forward to seeing you again at school tomorrow." I chuckle.

"Me to." I say casually and I notice Fluffy is pointing up at her face. "Goodbye." I say before pulling her head in so we share one more kiss. She wraps her arms around my head as well.

"Heh, heh, heh." Fluffy chuckles contently as he watches our mouths in action. I'm happy he approves of this.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Jerome gives his usual hearty laugh. "You crazy children, I don't have all day." He jokes. After almost twenty five seconds we stop kissing.

"Bye Todd." She says in a content tone. "I can't wait for school tomorrow." I grin.

"Me neither." I step out of the car. "One more thing." I say catching her attention.

"Yeah Todd?" She asks as I point at Fluffy.

"Please spend more time with Fluffy. He's truly my hero." Both of them smile and look at each other.

"Will do Todd." She says as both of them wave goodbye. "Bye Todd."

"Bye Maurecia." I say as I close the door and walk towards my house. She quickly rolls down the window.

"I love you Todd!" She shouts. I turn around immediately.

"And I love you to Maurecia." I say casually as Jerome drives off. I don't turn away from the car until it's out of my sight. And to think that seemingly against all odds, me coming to see her led to her waking up from her coma? It's truly a miracle. I've had a stressful week but today I found an unfamiliar feeling, love. I will have a nice sleep tonight knowing Maurecia is okay and I'll get to see her again tomorrow. It's given me the strength I've always needed to be a happy student at Wayside.

 **Author's Note: And there you have it. A romantic ending! I wanted to include romance in the genres but I only had two categories and labeling the story romance probably would've made the ending too predictable. But here it is, Todd is staying at Wayside, Fluffy is his friend, and he's fallen in love with Maurecia. Both of them are very happy and they're going to enjoy the rest of their eighth grade year hand in hand until it's over. :) … And should I consider writing a following story in the future? We'll see. Criticism is always welcome! Thank you for reading this story and have a nice week.**

 **Edit: There's one more chapter.**


	9. Unveiled Love

Unveiled Love

 **Author's Note: Attention Readers! This was a very enjoyable story for me to write. But after I submitted the last one I wasn't sure if it should end here or not. After careful consideration, I decided there should be one more chapter to officially end this story. Please enjoy and feel free to tell me what you think when it's over. I'm spending some of my free time brainstorming a sequel but I shouldn't start until this one's over. Have fun.**

Friday

Maurecia's POV

It was a beautiful night, my mom was so happy to see me again and my dad spent a little extra time talking to me after dinner. Every time it was my turn to speak I only wanted to talk about Todd. He's the only thing I set my heart on last night. And I'm glad that my parents approve of him. My mom would like to meet him sometime in the future but that doesn't matter right now. As long as one of them knows him then he's good. After I wake up at 5:45 A.M. I think I should begin my day now. That's usually really early even for me, but I just slept for two days didn't I? I'm not tired at all and my headache is gone. I poke Fluffy lightly on the nose.

"Come on Fluffy. Let's get ready for school." He doesn't move. I bet he slept well last night to but when I'm ready then he needs to be ready as well. I pick him up below his quills and hold him close to my face. "Wake up Fluffy!" I say noticeably louder. He opens his eyes quickly in growls at me. "Are you ready to begin the school day?" He shakes his head. "You don't want to see Todd again?" He shrugs, I think he's tired but I'm wide awake now and ready to resume my life. Everyone at Wayside probably missed me.

"Let's go Fluffy." I tell him as he sighs reluctantly and puts on his skates. I change into my usual school clothes, put on my helmet and skates, and storm out of the room. I attempt to grab my backpack but I'm assuming Todd still has it because I can't find it anywhere. As I get downstairs I'm greeted by my mom getting a cup of coffee.

"Good morning sweetie." She says calmly. I can tell she's glad I'm back.

"Good morning mom. What are you doing up so early?" I ask.

"Well I didn't need to work the night shift last night." I suppose that makes sense. My mom is a doctor who often works at night time. She takes any sleep she can get. "I'm actually going to change locations." We make eye contact.

"We're moving away?" I ask somewhat scaredly. She chuckles and shakes her head.

"No Maurecia. I was really worried about you the past couple of nights and so I've decided I'm going to work at the hospital you stayed at." I'm relieved.

"I'm okay now." She nods.

"I know. But in case it happens again, I'd like to spend my time near you. It wasn't a fun time at the office the past couple of days questioning your condition." I can understand that.

"Okay mom." I say as I grab a piece of bread and begin slathering peanut butter on it. "Hope you don't mind if I leave in a couple of minutes." She flinches.

"Darling, it's only five fifty. Why are you in such a hurry?" I begin smearing jelly on the bread as Fluffy licks the spoons.

"I want to go to Todd's house before school." I pick up his skateboard. "He forgot his skateboard." She sighs.

"Can't that wait until you're both at school?" I'm imagining she forgot what it felt like the day she and my dad fell in love.

"Well mom, I really want to see Todd again." She stares speechlessly. "Yesterday he visited me in the hospital and I think he's the sole reason I woke up from my coma." She shrugs.

"Well comas don't usually only last two days. But isn't Todd the person who hit your face in the first place?" I nod.

"He thought I was going to punch him again. But he's said sorry so many times and he carried me down the stairs. And I'm positive I'm in love with him." Fluffy squeaks cutely in agreement.

"Well Maurecia. I suppose that's okay. Do you think your father will care?" I roll my eyes and smile.

"He and Todd have already met and he supports him." She looks shocked.

"He's okay with you dating a boy he only just met?"

"You'd have to be my conscience to understand my feelings. But he's the best boy anyone could have. But they can't have him because he's mine!" I say with intensity. "Besides, he took care of Fluffy for me Wednesday night." Fluffy gives a thumbs up.

"Okay I'm alright with it, but do you think he's awake now?" I shrug.

"I don't know for sure. If he isn't then I'll just leave the skateboard on his porch and head to school." She looks concerned.

"What are you going to do at the school for two and a half hours?"

"Probably skate the hallways."

"But sweetie you could-" I cut her off.

"I could crash my head again. I know that. But I've never crashed before and I guarantee Todd won't hurt me again." She looks a little sad.

"That's fine. I'm just really worried about you." I look up feeling a little guilty. "For two days your father and I weren't sure how you got hurt or if you were going to even wake up. I'm glad you're awake now but it was still a very tragic feeling to think we could've lost you. We love you Maurecia." She says as a tear streams down her face.

"I know mom, and I love you to." I give her a hug and she doesn't want to let go. "But I've been in love with Todd since the day we met and I felt the same way the other night." She's shocked.

"You thought you were going to lose him?" I nod and begin a lecture.

"He said he was sick of Wayside School and wanted to go back to his old school. The thought of me going back and not seeing him next week, it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't promising; it felt like a stairway to hell. I couldn't sleep well knowing that someone I hold so close to my heart could leave our school forever. I'd never see him again. I know where he lives now but he still would never bother to talk to me even if I came to his house. But yesterday I learned something I was very surprised, yet very proud to hear. Yesterday I learned that Todd had the exact same feeling for me the past couple of days. He had that heartbreaking feeling under the stress of not knowing when I'm coming back or if I'm coming back at all. And the first thing I felt when I woke up was his presence." She cries a tear. "He was holding my hand." Fluffy grins. "And he didn't leave my side after I woke up either. I got to hug him tightly and tell him I loved him." I pause briefly. "Do you have any clue how long I've been waiting for that moment?"

"I don't have any idea." She says.

"Let's just say I've dreamed of this day for a long time. But it was even more enjoyable than I predicted. And do you know why?" She shakes her head. "Because he said he loved me to."

"Wow sweetie!" She cries a couple more tears. "You've found the boy of your dreams haven't you?" I nod.

"Yes mother. He's stolen my heart, and he's the only one it races for. I feel it flutter whenever he's next to me. It's a wonderful feeling mom. And I promise you he's worth it. So if being in a coma for two days is the price I have to pay to keep Todd at Wayside, then I accept it." She finally lets go of me.

"Well Maurecia if you're this adamant about Todd then I'll support you." I smile.

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome. But please be careful." I nod as I take my sandwich with me and race out the door.

"I will mom!" I shout as Fluffy follows me down the porch. "Next stop, 344 South Fairview!"

"EYEEEH!" Fluffy exclaims. After about fifteen minutes, I've eaten my sandwich, and we're at his doorstep. I pull out my phone and realize it's only six fifteen. I set half of his skateboard on the ground and hold it upwards.

"Well Fluffy we're here."

"Uh huh." He responds.

"Well here goes nothing." I say as I knock on the door. After about ten seconds there is no answer. I try one more time and this time a man answers it.

"Hello?" He asks as he looks down at me. "Who are you and what are you doing here so early?" I smile at him.

"My name's Maurecia. Is Todd home?" He opens his eyes a little wider.

"Are you his girlfriend?" I nod.

"I think we can say that now. He forgot his skateboard." I say holding it out. He takes it from me.

"Well thank you for returning it." He sets it down behind him. "Though couldn't you wait until school to give it to him?" I step back slowly.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you. A small part of me hoped he'd be awake. We just have so much to talk about now that I'm awake." He smirks.

"You're the girl he injured aren't you?" I nod. "Why are you so forgiving?" I shrug.

"Maybe because I owe him a little sympathy for punching him all the time. He's been a pretty good sport about it all the time but I wouldn't want to get in a physical fight with him." He chuckles.

"I think you could take him in a fight, he's very scrawny." I chuckle at that.

"Maybe so but one time I saw him literally holding the school building upwards to keep it from falling." His smile vanishes. "He's much stronger than most people wish they could be. And he hits pretty hard, I learned that the hard way." I say looking down a little. "But he's the only person I think about every day. Can you tell him I said hi and I can't wait to see him at school?" He smiles and points in the house.

"Why don't you come in for a couple of minutes? It's only forty four degrees outside." I smile and enter the house.

"Well if you insist." Fluffy skates around him.

"And I see you brought his little friend with you." Fluffy giggles.

"Yeah, Todd and Fluffy are my two closest friends. And it seems my absence brought them closer together." Fluffy gives a thumbs up.

"Well young lady, does my son think of you in the same way?" I nod.

"Oh yeah he does. He's spent the past year and a half protesting and resisting me. But none of that matters now. All that matters is that he's staying at Wayside, and he'll be at my side until our graduation." Suddenly I hear footsteps.

Todd's POV

"Maurecia? What are you doing here?" I didn't think I'd see her until school started. She's sitting on the couch and talking to my dad. But it's only six twenty so what gives? I don't even have a shirt on yet. My mom did my laundry last night so my plan was to just get a shirt after breakfast.

"Hi Todd." She says. "I was just meeting your dad for the first time."

"Yeah son. She's a keeper." He says as they both laugh.

"By the way Todd. You have nice abs." I blush at that sentence.

"Thank you Maurecia." My dad laughs again. "I'm just going to get a shirt real fast." I say as I walk towards the laundry room. I'm surprised she's here so early. I thought our plan was we'd talk when we got to school but I guess she couldn't help herself. But I really shouldn't complain. I'm happy to see her to. I just think it's a little unexpected and even embarrassing around my dad. I pull out a white long sleeve undershirt and my standard blue t-shirt. I put both of them on and step back out. I really want to play it cool. When I get back to the kitchen I notice Fluffy sitting on the table eating a small piece of toast. I hear my dad and Maurecia talking but right now I need a minute so I sit next to him.

"Well Fluffy how are you doing this morning?" I ask. He looks up.

" _Fantastic."_ He mouths then he points to me as he continues munching his bread.

"I'm doing okay. I just wish Maurecia and I planned this before she showed up to my house." Fluffy rolls his eyes.

" _Tell me about it."_ I think he wanted to sleep in.

"If I had to guess I'd say Maurecia was biding her energy. Now that she's awake she's got a lot to release." He nods and finishes chewing, he's done with his toast. "So… do you think I'm ready to tell everyone about this?" We make eye contact and he nods lightly. "Are you sure? It's gonna be tough to get past this. I don't think I'm ready for it myself." Fluffy smiles.

" _Just be strong Todd."_ Sometimes I don't know if I'm reading his lips right.

"I don't know if I can." He frowns. "I didn't think she'd be awake today. It's a true miracle that she is, but how are we going to explain this to the rest of the class." Fluffy points at his heart then back at me. "Let me guess. Be honest about my feelings?" He smiles eagerly a nods. "Okay. It's not going to be easy but it should be possible. Right?" He giggles a couple of times. "Okay then." I grab him unexpectedly by his sides. "Let's go!" He squirms around for a couple of seconds but he doesn't poke me. It's nice to have Fluffy around. He's not human but I think he knows more about my potential than I do myself sometimes. I step back into the living room.

"So he's tough enough to deal with kindergarteners every day!" Maurecia says.

"Well I didn't teach Todd to get comfy around kids, I taught him how much work they can be." They both laugh again. My dad doesn't know the half of it. I matured much quicker than the average child probably does. I wouldn't know for sure though because I don't have any siblings.

"Well Maurecia." I say as I step out. "Let's get to school." My dad frowns and Maurecia raises an eyebrow.

"It's a little early don't you think?" My dad asks.

"Well it is thirty stories tall."

"But you've got almost three hours." I shrug.

"My knees are starting to get sore." I say while I remove the bandages from my legs, there's still a large scab around them but it's better than before.

"Wow Todd. How'd that happen?" Maurecia asks.

"I attempted to use your rollerblades to carry you down the stairs." I say nervously. Maurecia continues.

"So then he carried me down all the stairs!"

"That's my boy!" He says as I roll my eyes.

"Can we please go now?" I say half pleading and half demanding.

"Awe is my son too eager to get away from his old man?" My dad teases.

"Dad, not in front of my girlfriend! I-" I'm cut off at Maurecia giving me her sparkling look only a couple inches away from my face. I blush instantly.

"Girlfriend Todd?" He asks a little surprised. I think he was just joking until he heard me say it out loud.

"Well Todd. Are you going to answer him?" She says while blushing a little. I stammer for a second.

"W-well. Y-yes dad. Yes she is." He holds his arms up and hands forward.

"Okay. I didn't know for sure if you were serious or not." He says apologetically.

"It's fine dad." Maurecia gets closer and looks prepared to punch me. I flinch and shut my eyes. Then she wraps her arms around me and laughs.

"Psych!" She says as she continues laughing. My dad laughs with her and I chuckle nervously. "I used to hit Todd all the time, but he took it like a boss!" She squeezes a little harder.

"Okay Maurecia. Can we please get out of here?" The laughter stops.

"Sure Todd." She lets go and picks up my skateboard. "By the way you forgot this yesterday." I take it from her and set it next to the door.

"Thanks Maurecia. And we should probably pick up your bag."

"You took my backpack?" I nod.

"Yeah. Let me show you where it is." I say as I walk up the stairs with her following me.

"Have fun!" My dad calls.

Maurecia's POV

I've never really thought about what Todd's room looks like. I see he has a large bed, a chair for gaming, a large T.V, and a shelf full of video games, action figures, and books? I didn't know Todd loved to read.

"Welcome to my room Maurecia." He says as he turns on the light and sets Fluffy on the chair. "What do you think?" I don't know for sure what to say. I knew he was geeky but I didn't know what way. Regardless it feels nice to be in such a well-organized environment.

"I think you did I good job here." I say. "But I'm just wondering something. Have you ever had a girl in here before?" He flinches and blushes a little. He's so cute when he's embarrassed!

"Come to think of it I haven't. Have you ever been in a room that belonged to a boy?" I shrug.

"I don't think so." I feel another question coming. "Have you ever slept with anyone before?" His eyes widen, I blush deeply after saying that.

"Well… No." He says nervously. I continue.

"Because I've dreamed of sharing a bed with you for a long time." He makes a serious face but before he speaks he's shocked out of it.

"Okay then. I've never really thought about it before. But…" He struggles to make eye contact with me for a few seconds. "You actually want to sleep with me?" I take a step back.

"Okay Todd, we don't need to look that far right now." He sighs. "But can you promise me that sometime in the future, we'll have a night together? I've actually spent a lot of lonely nights pretending you were in bed with me so I had someone to snuggle." I give him puppy eyes. After about ten seconds he stops blushing and regains his confidence.

"Yes Maurecia. I promise sometime in the future, we'll have a night to ourselves." A loving smile appears on my face.

"And will there be cuddling?" He nods.

"It'll probably be the best night of our lives. But we need to wait on that for now." He picks up my backpack and places my diary inside. "Here are your items." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks Todd, you're such a gentleman." I give him a kiss on the cheek. Fluffy giggles at that. "And you get over here you little sweetheart!" I pick Fluffy up, set him in my bag, and put the bag on my back. "Let's go to school Todd!" I say cheerfully. Suddenly a nervous and depressed look appears on his face. "Todd, is something wrong?" He looks up slowly.

"Well Maurecia, I honestly don't want to go to school." I didn't see that coming.

"Why not Todd?"

"Because I've had a rough week. Monday was the least pleasant day I've had all year." I really shouldn't have punched him when he didn't see me. It was wrong and just downright cruel of me. "After you hit the wall I felt like a murderer, like someone who took things a little too far." I pat his shoulders. "Everyone was afraid of me for a while until I talked my way out of a kindergarten bus ride. Then on Wednesday morning I found Fluffy and we got into a fight." Fluffy purrs in sorrow. "He showed me a scrapbook of photos you kept of us together and made it clear you'd spend less time with him while I'm around." I turn to Fluffy and he shrugs. "But even so, we became friends." I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "I said I was sorry, he said he was sorry, then he hugged my arm a couple of times." A single tear rolls down my face. "Later he attacked Mrs. Jewls to scare her and get me off of the bus." I didn't know Fluffy would do that. "And yesterday I learned Mrs. Jewls lost her husband in a similar way to how you got injured, and that stress wouldn't leave me the rest of the day. I told them I wasn't going to leave the school, but even so I felt it'd be too painful for me to go back and not see you there today." Another tear comes to my eye. "So, I'm glad you're awake, I'm glad you're done hurting me, I'm glad Mrs. Jewls is more reasonable than before, and I'm glad our entire class respects me more as a person." This is all so new to me. "But I didn't complete all my standards for this week. I failed to find something I care about that eases the pain. Something that'd make the school more enjoyable and worth going to. Now that you're awake all I can think about is how tough it'll be to go back under the pressure of having you with me." I do not understand this. "I don't think anyone will look at me the same way knowing that I punched you square in the forehead and could've killed you. It's not something I thought about before, but it is something that concerns me." He doesn't cry but he holds his head down. I silently approach him and wrap my arms around his shoulders very lightly. I hold his head to my chest below my chin and stroke his back.

"Oh Todd. It's okay." I whisper as I gently message his shoulders. He tears up all of a sudden. "Don't cry. You don't need to be sad anymore." He sniffles and hugs me back lightly. "Can I tell you my side of the story please?"

"Go ahead." He mumbles.

"Back on Monday when you avoided my punches I thought something was up, like you learned how to predict my fist before it hit you. Obviously you weren't happy about getting hit and that makes sense, but even so… I didn't sleep well on Monday night knowing you could be leaving the school." He looks up but I still hold him beneath my chin. "I was scared that at the same time next week, you wouldn't show up to school and then continue to never come back. My dad told me not to punch you again and this time I wasn't going to." Another tear falls from his face. "It's not your fault you didn't know that at the time. It's logical to assume I would've punched you again." He nods sadly. "Todd quick question. If you had let me hug you that day, what would've been your reaction?" He sighs.

"I probably would've seen it as an attempt to restrain my movement so you could punch me again. Then I think I would've squirmed and shouted 'let go!' until you gave up." A sad frown appears on my face. "I've just never seen you hug anyone before. I wouldn't have seen it as an attempt to be pure instead of rough like usual."

"Well Todd, if you hadn't hugged back or tried to escape my grasp, I would've pulled you in and whispered 'I love you' into your ear." He continues to hold his head down. "Would you have still wanted to leave me or abandon Wayside after that?" He shakes his head.

"I don't think so."

"Well Todd, what stressed me out was the thought of not seeing you come back to the school. You made walking up thirty stories each day worth it for me. And I have a few things to thank you for." He looks up.

"Like what?"

"Like taking care of my little Fluffy while I was gone." Fluffy jumps onto my shirt and climbs up to my shoulder. "Carrying me down thirty floors to help get me to the hospital." He looks at his knees. "And how'd you scrape your knees?"

"After twenty floors I was getting tired so I used your rollerblades to get down faster. On the stairway between the fourth and third floors, I miss stepped and was going to crash, but I held you closer to me so you wouldn't get hurt. My knees took the full impact for me." My eyes lighten up a little.

"Well I didn't know that!" I hug him again really tightly. "You actually were willing to endure a crash just to keep me unharmed?"

"Yes I was." He says quietly. I feel another tear roll out of my eye.

"That's the bravest thing I've ever heard of and you did it for me!" He stops crying. "And then later you actually came to the hospital to make sure I was okay." He nods. "I cannot thank you enough for those things Todd. No one else cares about me that much. Except maybe my parents. But you've still far exceeded any standard boyfriend in terms of caring. And so I'll tell you this as it is." We make eye contact. "If you don't go to school today, it's going to symbolize the fear I held all week. If I go to school without you, it'll appear like next week if you went back to your old school. You'd be leaving me, our classmates that do care about you even if they don't look like they do, you'd be leaving our teacher that I guarantee looks up to you as a role model, and you'd be leaving the school that has gone through so many improvements since you came for the first time. So can we please go together?"

"But what can I say for standard four?" I read it and it says 'find something I can say I care about that can ease the pain.' I smile.

"What about me? Aren't I your girlfriend?" He nods.

"Yeah but you're an independent person. I can't actually say you're mine." I pull him a little closer to the point our chests are touching. I feel my heart pounding and I wonder if he feels it as well.

"Todd, you've taken my heart." He pauses for a second. "You've earned my feelings. There isn't another person in the world that gets these feelings from me. You are my special someone who makes me feel this way. I love you Todd and my feelings for you have only increased since I found out how much you truly care about me. How many sacrifices you've made for me, am I just not the girl of your dreams?" He looks up quickly.

"No, no. It's not that Maurecia." He says.

"Because sometimes I feel like a lousy girlfriend. That you're way out of my league because of how much potential you use and how many times I've hit you." He rolls his eyes. "I want to be a better person Todd. And you've inspired me to try harder. So can you be brave and come to school with me? I promise I won't let anyone bug you anymore." He smiles.

"Okay I think I can." He says and I hug him a little tighter.

"Thanks Todd. I love you."

"I love you to Maurecia." I pull his face in and kiss him on the lips. He can't help but kiss me back. As our mouths are locked together I feel my heart throbbing against my chest, and this time I can feel Todd's heartbeat as well. I can tell he's enjoying this just as much as I am. Suddenly I feel our tongues touch and flinch. Todd opens his eyes and pauses as well. The tongue touching was accidental, but a second later he closes his eyes and continues. After a couple of seconds I get used to it. It feels pretty good, and my god Todd is good at kissing! After a solid minute we stop and both of us are exhausted. Fluffy just chuckles a few times.

"So… how was that Todd?" I ask while panting.

"That felt more amazing than anything I've ever felt." He continues panting as well. "Do you always kiss like that?" I shrug.

"I can't say I have since I didn't have anyone to kiss. Are you always that good?"

"I never really knew for sure. But I love it!" He says cheerfully.

"I'm the same way Todd. We need to kiss like that on a daily basis." He nods.

"Then we will." I pull him in for another hug.

"Thank you Todd. I've always dreamed of this day and I was never sure it would come. Can we go to school now?"

"Alright Maurecia. Let's go together." He takes my hand and holds it. Another joyful tear streams down my face; this is way more satisfying than I'd ever imagined it would be.

Todd's POV

After about thirty minutes we're both at the school and I haven't let go of her hand since the minute we left my room. When we're about to go inside I pause.

"Maurecia, hide for a second and come in when you're ready." I say. She hides behind the open window as I enter and spot Louis. "Hi Louis!" I call to him, he turns around instantly.

"Hey Todd! I have some good news for you." I grin and raise an eyebrow.

"So do I. But what have you got to say?" I ask.

"Maurecia has woken up from her coma and is coming back to school today." I keep a completely straight face. "Are you happy to hear that?" He asks as I giggle a few times, I hear Maurecia giggling outside.

"What a coincidence. Did you hear that girlfriend?" She hops through the window and holds my hand.

"Yes I did, boyfriend." She says. "Thanks for the notification Louis." Then she kisses my cheek. Louis looks a little surprised but then he chuckles a few times.

"Whoa. I didn't see that coming Todd. You sly dog!" He pats my shoulder. I can tell he's happy for us.

"Thank you very much for your concern Louis. Now it's time to finish this week without stress." Maurecia gives me a heartwarming smile. "Let's go Maurecia." Before we turn towards the stairs Louis holds his hand out.

"Whoa little dudes. Not yet." I raise an eyebrow.

"Why not?" Maurecia asks.

"There are some improvements taking place on the thirtieth floor." I roll my eyes.

"And why is that?" He shrugs.

"How should I know for sure? Kidswatter told me he wanted to talk to you before class begins."

"What does he want from me?" I ask.

"Is Todd in trouble?" Maurecia asks. Louis shrugs again.

"I don't think so. But he wanted me to find you when you came to school for some reason. So if you'd be in his office by 8:30, that'd be great."

"But you don't know the reason why?" He shakes his head.

"Sorry dude. You know I'd tell you if I knew right? But I really don't have a clue." I sigh. "Well, have a good one you two." He walks into another room. Maurecia takes my hand.

"Don't worry Todd. I'm not going to leave your side." Fluffy gives me a thumbs up.

"Thank you Maurecia. I just hope it's not a severe punishment of some sort."

"I doubt that. Kidswatter never has time to deal with students on his own time."

"Then why do you think he wants to see me today?" She shrugs.

"I have no idea. But I'm sure you aren't in trouble." She hugs my arm. "But I'm here for you anyways." I can't control my smile anymore.

"That's my girl." I say as I kiss her on the cheek. She giggles cutely. We step outside and just sit on the entry stairs, about twenty minutes later Jenny shows up on her bike. She immediately drives our direction the second she spots us.

"WHOO-WE!" She parks her bike at the bottom of the stairs. "Sister Mau, you're back!" She holds her hand out. "Give me five!"

"Alright!" Maurecia high fives her.

"By the way, how's your noggin?"

"It feels much better. And it's all thanks to Todd." I smirk.

"Yeah Jenny. I am good at this sort of thing."

"Nice work Todd. But I'm still confused. How were you able to help Sister Mau?" Maurecia wraps her arm around mine.

"He visited me in the hospital, held my hand, and said a prayer. Then I woke up from my deep sleep." She turns to me. "Right Todd?" I nod.

"That is what happened." I say. Maurecia just stares into my eyes. Jenny raises an eyebrow.

"Is there anything else you have to tell us now that you're awake?" Maurecia doesn't hesitate.

"I'm in love with Todd!" Jenny grimaces.

"That's not too surprising." I turn towards Maurecia.

"And I love you to." I kiss her on the forehead. Jenny's smile enlarges.

"Oh wow! I did not see that coming." She settles down a little. "But I am proud of you two. I knew you had it in you Todd. I just didn't know you did."

"Thanks Jenny." Maurecia says. "Do you think the rest of the class will predict this?" She shakes her head.

"Probably not. But I can only assume they'll be proud to see you again." We both smile at the same time. "And we'd like to hear Todd's final call." A confused look hits my face.

"My final call?"

"On whether or not you're staying at Wayside. We felt you only said you would yesterday because you were in such a good mood. Like you didn't complete your target goals or whatever."

"My standards?" I ask. She nods.

"Yeah your list of standards to remain at this school. And now that Maurecia is back, you don't need to take care of her pet anymore." I suppose all this is true. "But you'll need to tell everyone about this later. And I think they'll be proud to see you two finally together." She gets back on her bike. "Anyway, have a good one!" She drives into the school. After a little while we both go into Kidswatter's office. I'm sitting there playing my Game Boy and Maurecia is writing in her diary and adding pages to her scrapbook. Then after a couple of hours pass the school bell rings and Kidswatter enters the room.

"Hello children." He says. "Thank you for coming in this morning."

"You're welcome Mr. Kidswatter." I say. "But why did you want to see me?" He rolls his eyes.

"Well Todd, I expected to see you in particular, I did not expect to see Maurecia return from the hospital so quickly." Maurecia chuckles.

"Neither did I! But I'm glad I woke up before Todd left this school forever!" She puts her hand behind my neck and onto my shoulder. Kidswatter chuckles a couple of times.

"Isn't that adorable?" Then he gets serious again. "Todd. I've called you in for morning announcements." This is new.

"Is this another principal for the day thing?" I ask and he laughs a few times.

"Good one Todd. But this is actually something I think the entire school needs to hear from you." I look at my watch and its labeled 9:15.

"Can we please start then?" I ask.

"Sure thing." He grabs his microphone and turns it on. "Attention students, attention! This is Mr. Kidswatter speaking, and I have a critical message for everyone today. One of our eighth grade students has gone a long way here at Wayside, heck maybe even farther in one year than anyone else has since their first year." I smile a little but also feel a little nervous. "A student I'm hoping a lot of you know. His name is Todd. When he first joined this school last year, there was a large hazard that no one knew about until it was almost too late. There was a trash compactor on the thirtieth floor and many lives were at stake. It wasn't until a local hero under the name Todd, saved everyone." That's pretty rewarding. "But recently he had a couple of issues here at Wayside, and with not just mine, but hopefully everyone's hope, that he chooses wisely whether or not he stays at this school." I feel my heart constricting a little. This is a lot of pressure I'm under all of a sudden. Luckily Maurecia squeezes my arm.

"Stay strong Todd. I know you can." Then she kisses my cheek. I feel my confidence come back to me.

"Okay I will." I step up and walk towards the PA.

"So after another week of Wayside, I have Todd with me right now. And I think everyone in this building should hear him make his decision now. So Todd, are you going to stay with us at Wayside or would you rather go back to your old school?" He turns the microphone towards me. I take a deep breath, clear my throat, and then respond.

"I'm going to stay at Wayside." There is a little silence for a second in this office; I'm assuming Mrs. Jewls's class is cheering loudly right now. After about ten seconds he proceeds.

"Well there you have it students. Todd is going to stay at Wayside for the remainder of the year. Thank you all for your attention and goodnight." He turns the PA off.

"Thanks Mr. Kidswatter." I say. "Thank you for dedicating this announcement to me." He grins.

"After all the dedication you've given the school, you deserve it. Now please enjoy your school day." Maurecia takes my hand and we spend about ten minutes climbing to the top floor. By the time we get there the lights are off. This isn't something I'm used to seeing.

"What do you think that's all about?" I ask Maurecia.

"I'm not sure. But let's find out together." I nod. We step in the classroom and Myron flips the light switch. I see a bunch of confetti fall from the ceiling.

"HOORAY!" The entire class says the moment they see me, though the applause is immediately halted after they see Maurecia.

"Whoa! What is all this?" I ask. Myron pats my shoulder; he's wearing the class president logo.

"We're all glad you're staying here Todd." He says. "And this time I didn't fail to remember the lights. Awesome right?" He holds his hand out and I high five him.

"Yeah that's pretty cool pal." Mrs. Jewls approaches slowly.

"Maurecia? You're back!" She chuckles a couple of times.

"Yes I am!" There's a little more cheering. "I didn't think I'd be missed so much." Dana steps up.

"We didn't know for sure when you'd be back. But we're happy to see you." She says. "Though, how did you wake up so quickly?" Maurecia turns to me.

"Todd would you like to tell them or should I?" Fluffy pops out of her bag and winks. I feel a proud smile appear on my face.

"I'll say it." I turn towards the class. "After I made it to the hospital yesterday, I sat next to Maurecia. I held her hand and said a prayer for her. For a couple of minutes it was just me crying and feeling pitiful for this. But then, seemingly against all odds, she opened her eyes." A few students gasp in happiness. "I felt my presence was enough to wake her from her coma." Maurecia hugs me again.

"It was, Todd!" She kisses me on the cheek. "I love you." I blush and everyone's eyes widen. Even Shari is wide awake at this point.

"Well Maurecia." I pause and everyone leans forward slightly. "I love you to."

"Awe!" Everyone says at the same time. I pull her in and kiss her on the lips. The entire class cheers and applauds instantly. Mrs. Jewls cries a tear. After we're done the class quiets down and Mrs. Jewls stands beside us.

"That was beautiful Todd." She says. "You're a wonderful student and we're all happy to have you here. And your love for Maurecia is adorable." I smile.

"It's sincere." I say.

"We can tell. And I can't wait to spend four and a half more years with you in my class. Now, please take your seat." As Maurecia is about to sit down she spots Rondi in her seat. She frowns.

"Rondi, this is my seat." Rondi giggles.

"Not anymore." She points at the desk next to mine.

"Since when did this happen?" She asks. Dana speaks up.

"We had a hunch that you two would get together and if so we would allow you to be next to each other the whole day." Maurecia and I both take our seats and hold hands. The whole class is staring at us.

"Well Todd, what do you think?" Myron asks. I smile, turn to Maurecia, and then back to the class.

"I think I'm where I belong." Everyone smiles. "Now that we're all here can we get started?"

"After I get rid of this." Mrs. Jewls erases the discipline list, much to my surprise. "Todd, you'll never have to ride that silly kindergarten bus again. Now let's begin."

This was by far the greatest week I've ever had in my entire life. Sure there were a couple of rough edges but I got around those. Now the entire class respects me, Mrs. Jewls respects me, Fluffy is my friend, and I've found love with Maurecia. Something I've been blinded from the entire time with her frequent punching. But it's all over now. I'm ready to spend the rest of the year and possibly college, or maybe… just maybe, I'll get to spend the rest of my life with Maurecia at my side. It's going to be an exceptional school year I can tell. At the end of the school day she and I are sitting next to a tree holding hands. Now to confirm it one more time.

"I love you Maurecia."

"I love you to Todd." Fluffy sits between us contently.

 **Author's Note: And that's the official ending of this story. It took me a little longer since I didn't know for sure how I should end it for a while, but it's a much better ending than I formerly had. Thank you all very much for reading this and I look forward to writing another Wayside fanfic in the future.**


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